Mystery Dungeon: The Battle
by BFoS
Summary: A war begins. A deathmatch to find who the greater mind is Pokemon, or human? Told through Pokemon POV
1. Mystery Dungeon

I'm soon going to go into a silence again, this time for months without a word from me. Sorry for those of you who read my stories, but chances are, this is the last time I'll be here until July. Maybe I'll still come to read and review, but chances are slim that I'll up-date.

I have a commitment to make. I promised a company called Vantage Press I'd finish a novel by June, and they expect a product. I've been working on it, just 6 chapters in and still a long way to go. So this is probably the last up-date I make due to the fact that I'm going to be working on the novel as my main priority. Once again, sorry. I'll work on my fics here at least one time each week, but mostly I'll be on my novel. Having said that, there is no pre-read here. I'll do it when I have time, but I'm going to be working on my novel, so don't expect me to make one any time soon.

Well, I'm wishing myself luck, and secretly saying goodbye too. It's been fun writing here, but I have to do something.

I do not own Pokémon. This is the beginning of a trilogy I had planned for Mystery Dungeon, that is more of a prequel.

Goodbye for awhile...most likely I'll still review fics. Oh, and forgive me for a crappy sonnet I wrote in like 4 hours as a prologue. XD

_**Mystery Dungeon: The Battle**_

**Prologue**

_Beyond the time of harmony between creatures_

_Before the time of fate_

_Human and Pokémon fight of features_

_Til' the time of date._

_In desperate search they travel with good will_

_But then must depart_

_For a time comes to have holes fill_

_Before they fall apart._

_In the end, there is no glory of truth_

_Nor there be sadness to weep._

_They must come up and all forth_

_Or let the battle go steep._

_Two Sneasel must learn to love together in thine_

_Or in difference, they will all die._

**Chapter 1: Icefall Cave**

_The settlements were moving. Humans were moving away from Four Island. Why? Did it matter? Curiosity hits. Humans love sneaking in to capture us. And we love sneaking to capture their items. Why leave? I don't care. But is there a reason?_

Those were the thoughts that passed Mare. He was one of the strongest Sneasel of the area. He was one to be given the job of looking for any suspicion. Currently, suspicion had arisen. There were humans that were disappearing, moving away. And he didn't know why.

He stood there, by the side of the rock formation leaning. There had to be a reason. Humans were weird, but to them, Pokémon were possibly the best thing. They just had to capture them. They couldn't resist. So why were they leaving?

"Mare" called a fellow member of the Icefall Cave. Another Sneasel. "Mare, humans are leaving!"

"I know," Mare stated.

The other Sneasel persisted with jumpy acts. "I can't believe it! It's gone all—all--all,"

"I am trying to think now, can you come another hour?" Mare had his stern look. The death stare.

"But this is—this is _BAD_!"

"How so?" Mare asked, still not interested and still looking off into the places where humans were now boarding large rafts with motors. Humans called them ferry. Sneasel called them 'Runaway Machine.'

"Well, what are we to eat from?"

"Plenty of fruits by the trees."

"That is because the humans planted them!"

"And what, we can't do the same?"

The Sneasel got frustrated and moved on his way. That was when one of the Appointers, a Weavile, stepped from the mouth of the cave entrance and to Mare's spot.

"You've noticed." the Weavile announced. Mare gave a nod. "Come, we must discuss this matter elsewhere. We can't help them."

"Appointer Irathie," Mare stated.

The Weavile stopped and turned around. "What is it, Mare?"

"I do not think this will end well. Something is going to happen. I can almost sense it."

Appointer Irathie nodded. "It is within us all that we believe something will happen. We have something in common thought. We all believe that this will not end well."

With that, Appointer Irathie continued back into the Icefall Cave. Mare stayed out for a moment, then retreated inside the coldness.

* * *

the sun beat down. It wasn't the heat that was getting to Wendy the Sneasel, but it was the fact of where they were going. Her trainer brought her down from the Port of Four Island and was now standing before the entrance with the large sign. 

"This is it, Wendy," Said Teresa, her trainer. Wendy nodded. "Are you ready to visit Grandpa for one last time?" Again, another nod.

There seemed to be no more pavements where they walked. From there, on to the lonely house at the back, near the Icefall Cave, hidden from view of curious Pokémon, was an old wooden house. This house belonged to Wendy's trainer's Grandfather. If this statement were said to Teresa or a friend of Teresa while she was near, Teresa would've probably said, "Duh."

The two continued onto the front porch of the old rickety house. Teresa's Grandfather was there waiting for her. They hugged while Wendy stayed two feet behind Teresa.

"Oh, it's been so long! My how you've grown!" Teresa's Grandfather exclaimed to her. "Oh and what's this?" he asked, now giving attention to Wendy.

"Grandpa, this is Wendy. She's the one I told you about over the phone remember?"

"That Aron?" he picked up Wendy, who hardly struggled in his grips. "Oh, but she doesn't feel as hard as the Aron studies that I remembered."

"Grandpa, I know you aren't blind," Teresa stated giggling.

"Oh, but there is hardly rough hard-shell on this Aron," he said again, rubbing the Sneasel's fur. Wendy was getting slightly uncomfortable.

"Graaandpaaaa," Teresa giggled again.

"Relax deary I know this is a Sneasel. But I had you going, didn't I?" he said 'deary' like 'dreary,' which was exactly how Wendy was beginning to feel.

They talked some more. They entered the house, Wendy being placed on the floor, where she swiftly moved by the side of her trainer, in which 'Grandpa' stated, "oh my, a fast one!"

Time passed by. They began to talk about something that was happening in the Island, but Wendy chose to ignore it. It couldn't possibly be important enough for her to know about it and if it was, then Teresa would explain to her later.

There was a breeze. Wendy turned around to the door, but found it closed. She looked at the window and also found them closed, but saw that the curtains were slightly moving. As if...something was pulling at them.

Wendy couldn't explain what she saw next to her trainer even if she wanted to. Wendy felt something inside her. She gazed up, and found some kind of...bright, yellow aura, barely even visible.

Wendy was confused, and even more confused as she saw the aura descend and circle around her trainer. Wendy turned her head to one side, trying to make sense of it. The aura dissolved right into Teresa's skin, her still speaking to her Grandfather like nothing was happening. Then nothing.

And the talk went on. But Wendy kept that aura in her mind. Something was telling her that it wasn't right, and something big was going to happen because of it. It was a feeling almost everyone felt, but Wendy felt she had to protect her trainer. Something in her mind was telling her to do so. She felt this was a mission just thrown upon her.

So Wendy sat patiently and took close contact with her trainer. Something was wrong, and she knew it. She was going to find out what that aura was. That was her new goal.

Teresa was told she could sleep in one of the rooms, and so she left up the stairs. Wendy followed.


	2. Ninetales Legend and Gardevoir Prophecy

Hello, I'm here with another chapter to Mystery Dungeon: The Battle. Just to say right now so you don't get confused, I'm trying something new. Later on, a Gardevoir and a Ninetales will be talking. But, the Gardevoir doesn't know what the Ninetales is saying, and the Ninetales doesn't know what the Gardevoir is saying. I decided to try and see, what if all Pokémon didn't know what each other were saying? What if, with their different speaking patterns and use of different words (example: Pika, Char, psyduck, etc.), they instead use a different language for each other? There's no way you can say that's crazy talk, because it's true. See it as a person speaking english and a person speaking japanease. Yeah, they need to know each other's language to understand.

So now you must be thinking about the whole Weavile and Sneasel thing. Um, duh, Weavile is the evolved form of Sneasel, it'd be pretty obvious. XD

Some of you might wonder how the heck this is PMD related then, if they don't understand the same language, and in the game, they do. Don't worry, when I thought this plan up, I thought of a way to get to how PMD has it. In other words, a spoiler for later in this story, they will eventually understand each other. Obviously, if this is a prequel to PMD. XD

Oh yeah, and this chapter has spoilers for PMD. Actually, the whole trilogy is gonna be one big PMD spoiler. Should've put that in the first chapter. Opps.

**Chapter 2: The Ninetales Legend and Gardevoir Prophecy**

Four Island had gotten much quieter. Though not all the Pokémon knew what was going on, it was easy to tell that something wrong was afoot. They could feel the fear in the humans themselves. They just wished they couldn't.

As much as Mare would have loved to think of this all day and night, he was forced to pretend those events did not exist. Because he had a job for all Sneasel and Weavile kind, he had to pretend to be the one that didn't know anything at all. That wasn't a problem. But when it was obvious that many other Sneasel were growing too violent for answers, with threats and actually visiting humans, taking to find truth, it became more than just a job. If he failed this, it was a banishment wish.

Yes, possibly the worst case scenario for all Sneasel kind would be to be rejected. Rejection is not a feeling one would like. It takes away all that was known to just be. With that gone, there really wasn't much else one could look forward to.

The humans considered Sneasel and Weavile kind to be loners who live alone because of all that would be available. It would give recognition and honor among the rest of their kind. But this isn't the case.

Those cases are usually those that have been rejected. Because they are rejected, they must hunt on their own, even sneak into a bird Pokémon's nest to steal eggs. Those rejected would never want to move too far from home, so they stay near the colony, even though they had been banished. Because of this, they do in fact get recognition. But not for the reasons the humans believe.

Back to Mare's job. Yes, so Mare's position had been to look out for major suspicion and see if suspicion was correct, but his main focus was now to keep those out, out, and those in, in. He wasn't given a straight and complete reason as to why, but he didn't need one. All he needed to know was that he was appointed this by an Appointer.

There he stood, by the entrance. Mare had been close enough to humans to understand what humans would consider him. In human light, he would be called a Bouncer. Mare had only heard that word be used for a certain bar at Four Island each time he had passed it. He understood that the Bouncer would be the one at the entrance of this bar, usually checking out other humans. It seemed as if humans believed humans would deceive other humans. That wasn't the case for Pokémon.

Now that he had been thinking about human accounts like that bar visit, he took a pose that he had caught that bar Bouncer with each time he had been able to see him.

He leaned against the rock with his arms folded while standing on one foot, while the other was used to balance with the wall. With the black fur, he really did look like the Bouncer. He had always found the Bouncer wearing some leathery black material, no matter what weather it had been out.

Mare had to admire that. With some studies his kind have made, they knew that for certain weather conditions, humans would wear certain clothing. This one Bouncer would always wear the same thing.

He liked to think of himself as a Bouncer. It was just to fuel his imagination. There was a lot more to the human world than the Pokémon eye could see, and when—

"Mare."

Mare was startled. He almost lost his balance, but regained himself so fast that it had seemed he had never lost balance.

The one who had called for Mare had been Appointer Irathie.

"Appointer Irathie," Mare stated blandly, kneeling down in front of him. "I'm doing my part. Whatever it is you must do, I will follow."

"Please stand Mare, as we have all come to a conclusion."

Mare stood up, giving Appointer Irathie the authority look that he was given. "Sorry?" he asked, a bit confused.

"We have come to a conclusion."

"A conclusion to what?"

"To what we must do."

Mare began to think about what it was they really were going to do. His job had been pretty suspicious, and even he wondered why he was given it. "What will we do?"

There was a short silence. "We're going to seal us away from the outside."

Mare gave a quizzical look. "Seal? Why—how did we come to this?"

"Mare, there is something going on around all of our cave, and this island," Irathie noted, pointing all around where the nearest human settlement would be. "We have reason to believe that something rather dangerous is on its path towards us."

"Reason? How did we get this reason?" as curious as he was, Mare just wished he could have kept silent and just accepted the information. But he already got that far, why not go farther for more answers? Mare was the kind that wasn't as afraid of rejection as much as others were. Yes, he was afraid of it, but he believed he could live with it by following all he had learned about the humans when he scouted the land several times before.

"The humans are leaving us." Appointer Irathie sighed before he continued. "I'm going to let you know a secret about me, Mare. I was never from this colony."

"Huh?" Mare was surprised by this one.

"Yes, I was an outsider. I came with no hope, but with strength, I was able to grow on with this colony. And yet, I've never told anyone of where I had come from. Until today. I've seen a lot of things I wouldn't want to see again, Mare. What I saw brought down the entire colony I had come from. And it started exactly like this."

Mare was putting all that together in his mind. "Oh my...Appointer Irathie, we might be in danger then."

"I know we are. That's why this plan will work."

"No, I mean with this plan."

"What?" Appointer Irathie was puzzled now. He wasn't sure why Mare would go against the plan. It was perfectly reasonable from the view he had showed the others.

"Appointer Irathie, I can't say that this will work; you'll be cutting others off of their safety."

"How so?"

Mare was silent for a moment, then said, "I've studied humans for a large amount of time. I know a lot about them. Let's say you are right, and something might destroy us all. By leaving us away from the outside, we won't be sure when whatever it is destroying us is over. Leaving us all inside our own home for a long while will move us to do horrible things. It can happen, the humans proved it on something I believe they called a Tee Vee."

"You lost me; say again?"

"In order to gain more knowledge, humans turn to other humans for help. But for faster references, and easier too, they would turn to these boxes that showed moving images. These images would speak back to the human and explain more of life around them. I've seen one of a cave in. No air would circulate, as shown in the images, and leave all inside to faint, and eventually, die."

Appointer Irathie blinked. "And you understood the human tongue?"

"No, but the images were enough. The cries of other Pokémon in these images were horrifyingly real. I actually stopped watching the Tee Vee in worry and never really stopped thinking of such a situation. Now it seems that you are saying we should do just that; in all do respect, but is that a wise decision?"

Irathie remained quiet for a moment. "Mare, maybe you should watch what you say. I understand what you are telling me, and I understand you just want to make sure that we live. But you shouldn't speak back like this."

"I know. I am sorry. I'm just very curious that maybe...this could go wrong."

"Yes, it can in many ways go wrong, but we must do this."

"One more question."

"Yes Mare?"

"I would just like to know why. You gave me a reason, but there are alternatives. Why such drastic decision?"

"Because Mare; if you really think about it, there are no alternatives. Let's return to the others."

With no more arguing, Mare followed Appointer Irathie. He still found the answer to the solution to be going at it the wrong way, but if no one else was going to go against it, then neither would he. Because unlike the others, Mare wasn't afraid to die. Stupid cause or not.

* * *

The moon struck high up in the sky and shined down upon Four Island like any other day. Very few Pokémon were seen throughout the day. Some species had themselves felt the grim mood upon the island and fled. It was the change in the mood and the change in atmosphere. None knew what exactly it was that was coming, but they knew it wasn't good. 

Most that had the fate of being a partner to a human didn't take much notice. They could feel it, but would not do anything about it because it wasn't an order to do so.

When a Pokémon is captured, they feel that they were not taken from their old lives and given something knew, but bestowed an honor of protection. An unwritten law that could have possibly been said by Lugia himself.

With the honor of being partnered with a human came the responsibility of protection for each other. The trainer would take care of the Pokémon while in return the Pokémon would protect the trainer. It was something that had gotten used to, and soon, it was a legend itself that Lugia sent humans as protectors of Pokémon.

In an instant, that would all change.

* * *

Wendy got comfortable. It wasn't often that her trainer would let her sleep with her. Sure, it did happen, but only on those occasions when everything was alright and there would be no worry throughout sleep. Sleeping in the house of a relative was considered as one of those, so Wendy was allowed to sleep with her trainer. 

She snuggled in the embrace of her trainers arms as they held tight, with the 'I love you' from Teresa and the polite comment from Wendy that Teresa would pretty much not know meant.

It was a lovely position. It was even considered cute to many humans that a human would sleep on a bed alongside their Pokémon.

"Tomorrow, we're leaving together," Teresa said in a whisper to Wendy.

Wendy had been with Teresa long enough to know what she meant by that. She wasn't sure what the exact translation was, but she understood enough.

"Good night Teresa," Wendy replied in a whisper. Sure, Teresa would never know what she said. But as it was from Teresa to Wendy went the same from Wendy to Teresa; she understood what was trying to be transfered. Not the complete translation, but enough.

In just minutes, Teresa was asleep. Wendy would too fall asleep, but she felt that Teresa had to be the one to fall asleep before her. When she had noticed her trainer asleep, then she let her tiredness come to her. She let the feeling take over, and she began to drift off to sleep too.

She didn't stay asleep for long once she had. As most, it was known that Sneasel's never could get a good sleeping because of their good hearing. This was useful in hunts. However, as the Sneasel grows, so does the ability to control this sleep. When they wish to sleep, they'll sleep.

But that would not shut off everything. They still had their hearing. As long as they could measure the sound, then they could control when they sleep. But with a miscalculations, one sound level higher than what they measured when they slept would be too loud. So even though the room had almost no sound at all, that twirl from the ceiling was becoming too loud. Not the fan, but another twirl.

It was silent as it descended. But it still disturbed the air.

The cloud of green descended to the ground. From there, it began to hover just over the covers. It was coming right over Teresa's legs.

Teresa moved a bit. She turned her legs to get a better sleep, yet still not waking from her slumber. The sound and movement was enough.

Wendy opened her eyes. She didn't look anywhere, but instead thought that it was something else scampering around the floor. Maybe the house held some small critters of their world? Whatever it was, it shouldn't be a bother. She should just fall back to sleep.

It wasn't until half a minute later that she felt the wave of sound and air brush over. She opened her eyes again and turned over to face her trainer instead.

That's when she could've jumped and hit her head when she landed on the floor. That was an option, but stricken with the view, she didn't do a thing.

Light from seemingly the middle of the thing shined bright, giving the room a strange green effect for just a moment. This would have caught Wendy's attention had she not been already paying attention to the yellow coming straight for her trainer.

Just before the yellow could lay upon the sweetness that was Wendy's trainer, Wendy tried to jump in between the two. She jumped at first, but her claws had dug in too deep on the bed that she had to struggle to get through.

But she made it right between the two. When she looked straight into the green light, she froze. Was this it? The end for her trainer?

* * *

A trainer fell on his knees. He was very tired and was full of scratches all over his body. Just as he had got footing and stood back up again, he began to question where it was he was going. He had no destination. 

This frustrated him more. He needed guidance.

He stepped away from the forested grounds he was stomping upon...

And found a ledge. He almost fell over the ledge, but stopped himself and pulled back with his own weight.

After getting his footing, he decided one look down the steep side wouldn't hurt. When he did look, he could see the bottom go far down, straight to the entrance of the Icefall Cave. He was at the highest elevation in Four Island.

"Okay, what now?" he said aloud, moving his fingers through his hair and trying to keep concentrated. It was kind of hard to do so with his current situation.

The easy way out was to ask for help. He decided to do just that.

Pulling one of his Pokéballs from his belt, he tossed the ball and called out his one and true friend.

Gardevoir.

* * *

Wendy couldn't get her eyes off of the light. Unfortunately for her, the more she looked, the less control she had over herself. She found herself moving away from the light. 

_What am I doing?_ She thought. It was a small thought, but with another glance at the green form, she ignored her thought and moved away.

Then with a swift move, a protective guard shield blocked access right before her eyes. In just seconds, Wendy found herself pounding on the force, trying to get in and break her trainer away from it.

But the more she screamed to break through, the stronger the shield became. She had been fooled. Now her trainer was doomed.

* * *

"Gardevoir," called out the trainer. 

Gardevoir turned her attention to her trainer and gave a slight bow to show her discipline. She didn't differ from other Gardevoir by much, but as a guide for tough situations with her trainer, she always found herself there for him.

"Well, we're here," her trainer told her. "We've traveled way too far already. We have a longer run to make, but for now, we're safe." Gardevoir gave him a strange look. "Okay, so we're still in danger, but that's why you're here."

She knew it.

"We have some time to go farther," Gardevoir advised, but knew the trainer would never understand what she was saying. What she was saying would only come in her language.

"I'm kind of trapped. I don't..." he kept quiet for a moment, then finished, "I don't think I can run anymore."

There was a quiver in his voice. Gardevoir comforted him. She reached with her arms to her trainer and let him fall to her arms. She could feel tears come down.

After being through everything her trainer had been through, she knew what had led him to their current location. It was always driven by fear.

Gaining his posture, her trainer stood so that he could stay at a hugging status with her. It seemed so natural.

His tears were subsiding, but Gardevoir could feel the fear. She had to stay strong for him.

A short time had passed, and when it was over, her trainer broke away and sat on the ground. The view of the dark Four Island town lay ahead of them.

"What now?" he said emotionlessly, not staring at anything but the floor. "I've been through every horror story a teenager can handle...it's pushed me far. I don't know what else to do."

Gardevoir sat near her trainer, and stood waiting with him. A few seconds had passed. None would say a word to each other.

"Gardevoir, just leave. I don't want drag you into something you're not in yet." When Gardevoir didn't reply, her trainer faced her. "Now."

As much as the force in her trainer was, she refused to leave.

Her trainer stood up and backed away, looking at Gardevoir crazily. "Haven't you seen what I've done? I've destroyed dreams of good people Gardevoir! I destroyed my own dream! I died a long time ago, but I saved you doing so."

Gardevoir stood. In her language, she spoke, "Please, I can help you."

her trainer would never know what she said word for word, but he did know what she meant. "Gardevoir, if you want to help me, go tell an officer Jenny's Espeon what I've done, then tell that Espeon where I am. I'll be gone forever, but at least I'll be safe." it was then when another tear fell, and he had trouble saying his words. "I—I'm alone here. Team Rocket is after me, remember? I did something bad, remember? Do you remember anything?"

Gardevoir came closer, face to face, and said silently in her language, "As you said, you saved me. There is an alternative. I can save you as you did me. And I can wash away the bad things you've done."

Her trainer backed away. "Gardevoir, you're safer without me." he turned around and looked straight at the ground. "I'll take you back to the town. You'll be safe. After that, I'm going to turn me in on purpose."

Gardevoir was about to say something more, when her trainer pulled from his pocket a small badge. It was silver in triangle fashion, and had a red R on it.

"This thing..." he said. Gardevoir felt a darkness rising in his voice. The silvery badge seemed to shine right back at him. "It ruined my life..." his expression turned to an angry one. "This thing destroyed me!"

He tossed the badge. It soared, not too far, landing near some small bushes.

* * *

Wendy stopped trying. She backed away, looking at the energy with wonder and fear. 

Then it happened. She heard a slight unfamiliar voice, very faint. Listening in carefully, she could barely hear it. Finally after adjusting, she heard.

"_But this isn't something to jump at_," said the voice. Wendy couldn't picture any form in her memory of who the voice was, but it sounded feminine. There was no reply from the answer, but the voice continued. "_Teresa, this is our cry for help. You are supposed to save us. It's the prophecy._"

_Prophecy?_ Wendy couldn't understand. It was apparent that the thing was speaking to her trainer, but why? Prophecy? What was that about?

"_If you're sure. You'll come to our world. You'll leave your friends, family behind. It may come to being for a long while, months, years even. Are you sure?_"

"What?!" Wendy couldn't keep that in. It was too shocking. Immediately, she was beginning to lose the voice, but kept it in mind. She jumped to the force of the green spirit. She began attacking the spirit, clawing away.

"You can't take my trainer! What are you doing? She has a world that loves her here!" That last statement, Wendy truly believed. Everywhere they had gone, Teresa always made friends. In one way or another, she would help out someone. Doing so gave her a good reputation. It came beyond the point of friendship with those they've met before.

"_I sense there is an outer force...pulling,_" said the voice.

"That's me! Don't take her, please!" Wendy kept trying, hoping to get through the spirit. But she couldn't. Fortunately, the next faint words she heard helped, showing a thought of not going anywhere.

"_So you don't think you can do this?_"

Wendy stopped, hope coming back. Was her trainer really speaking to the spirit in her sleep? It seemed that she was!

"_I won't force your destiny. We have limited time, but You can chose when you're ready._"

Wendy was getting even more confused than she was. She couldn't get if her trainer was actually the one who had suggested leaving or if the spirit was.

"_This is very good that you want to test your courage this way. I sensed the aura within you, what you were inside you earlier. Just seconds before I entered your dreams, my power could only come as your aura. I sensed you had the power to be a good hero. But are you positive that you want to test your courage this way?_"

Wendy didn't want to question it anymore. She listened instead, only hope to pull her through.

"_Fine. But I won't keep the secret from you for long. As I'd put you in this world, in the form that defines you, you'd have limited amount of time until the end. I'll be there for you, and as you request, not tell you of your prophecy. But, if you haven't figured it out in the last moment, I'll be forced to tell you. If not, then this would all be for nothing._"

"Huh?" Wendy didn't quite get it. Then, of all things to happen, the yellow spread across her trainer. _What's this?_ Wendy questioned.

"_Yes Teresa, my world is this world's future._"

The yellow pulled, and Wendy began to rise. The yellow began to fold her as it carried her, making what was happening to Teresa unknowable.

"What are you doing?!" Wendy screamed.

The yellow shined bright, over shining the green. It became smaller, smaller than the height of a human. It was unbelievable.

In a last attempt, Wendy jumped just as the yellow was getting out of reach. The green wasn't protecting it anymore.

She was able to grab onto the orb of yellow that contained her trainer, and tried to pull herself up as the orb rose higher.

"Where are...you taking here!" Wendy shouted, hoping to get an answer. The orb became wet and slippery. Wendy couldn't hold on any longer. She let go, and fell onto the bed.

Wendy could only stare as the green was disappearing, wrapping around the yellow orb.

There had to be one other option, and more, that could help. Wendy didn't have long to think one up, so she chose without thinking. A lot of times, her trainer would shout this to her in battle. It was very effective to defeat the opponent. It should have worked the same in this way. Wendy called it a teleport, but due to the fact that her species would use it a lot for attacking when needed and quick get aways, trainers would call it, Faint Attack.

In seconds, Wendy had teleported from her position on the bed to that of near the last of the green spirit. Sliced at it, but in that moment, the spirit had gone completely, leaving the spinning fan above to keep spinning, and Wendy to attack it.

The fan unhooked and crashed towards the closet, with Wendy stuck with it. The wall broke away into the hall of the house. The fan and Wendy crashed onto a desk, where an antique, unlit oil lamp fell over Wendy.

Struggling with the fan and pain from the fall with it, Wendy picked herself up, all covered in the oil, and ran back towards the room through the wall she had broken. A gas pipe was broken.

Wendy looked around the room, scared. She had to find her trainer. That was her main priority.

Where would she look?

Frantically, Wendy left the room and stared at the ceiling of the hall, trying to catch any of the green spirit. Running to the end of the hall, Wendy forced herself through the window and swung to the roof of the house. From there, she looked around, trying to find the spirit in the air. Nothing.

She slid off the roof and to the ledge, where she swung herself in through the bathroom window. The shards flew in with her, and the friction of sliding off the roof was added as she landed and slid. The oil caught on her arm, lighting it.

The pain was hard. It seemed stronger than that of a fire Pokémon. It burned.

She slipped down the hall, squealing in pain. She wasn't thinking anymore. The gas from the broken pipe caught, and that side of the hall exploded in flames.

The force threw her back into the bathroom, where she caught more fire and broke the shower. The water started pouring with the force, rinsing Wendy. But Wendy wasn't moving. She had been knocked out.

In another room, the grandfather was just getting up from all the noises. The first one woke him up, and made him stand to go and see what it was. He was barely reaching the door when he heard the explosion.

* * *

Gardevoir couldn't do anything but comfort with a hug. Her trainer appreciated this greatly, taking it in. after a few seconds, he broke away. 

"This shouldn't be getting to me," he said. He walked back towards where he had tossed the badge, but didn't see it. It had landed within the bushes. "I mean, yeah, this is really bad. So I'm gonna be hunted by them for a long time, so what? I can deal with that. In fact..."

Staring straight at the direction that he had tossed his badge, Gardevoir's trainer had an idea.

"What are you thinking?" Gardevoir asked, trying to get him to understand at least that. She crept nearer to him.

"I can use my badge to our advantage," he said. He faced Gardevoir, and with a final gesture, said, "We can bring them down with this thing."

quickly, without another thought, her trainer bent down and reached into the bush, reaching towards where his badge was, and pulled. He was about to continue speaking when he heard a Pokémon cry.

Pulling back, still having a grip on the badge, he stopped and fell on the ground. He noticed the fur in the air, shiny from his pulling. Uh oh, he just pulled upon an animal.

And this wasn't any Pokémon. This was a Ninetales.

The Pokémon jumped from its sleeping near the bushes and right in front of Gardevoir's trainer. Immediately, Gardevoir stood guard in front of her trainer.

"Thank you Gardevoir," her trainer said, backing away and standing.

There was a menacing look in the Ninetales. Her gaze fell beyond Gardevoir and to her trainer.

The Ninetales growled for a moment, then seemed to dismiss it. She turned, ready to walk away.

"That's good," Gardevoir's trainer stated.

He walked back to the spot of his badge. He looked for it, but Gardevoir didn't stop looking at the Ninetales.

Yes, she had been walking away, but when her trainer stepped towards the bushes, Ninetales turned towards the trainer.

"NO! Move away from that spot!" the Ninetales warned.

Gardevoir's trainer only heard the normal Ninetales growls, but her growls were enough to keep him from reaching into the bushes. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it was obvious she didn't want him snooping around her bushes.

She blocked the passage to the bushes, her stare back to a menace. "You don't want to see. You can't."

Even though Gardevoir and her trainer didn't know what the Ninetales said, they knew that she wanted them out, and fast.

"I am asking you to leave. Leave now, and I won't have to do something I will probably regret."

If only Gardevoir and her trainer knew what the Ninetales was saying. If only they knew. But they didn't have a clue, and thus, the words came out of Gardevoir's trainer's mouth. "Gardevoir, Psychic!"

Gardevoir, being who she was, did as she was told. She crossed her arms across her chest, and a purple X airwave came crashing at Ninetales.

It was a strong attack, and led to pushing Ninetales to the bushes with it's force.

Her trainer stepped forward with caution. He glimpsed the Ninetales, struggling a bit. Then, she rose and shook the waves of energy off of her.

"You...did you just force her to attack me?" the Ninetales said, not much in a question manner. "You boy...do you want to know what a Psychic is?!"

And with that, and a swift move of her tails, a purple glow emitted from all around the Ninetales' body. She shot her psychic at Gardevoir's trainer. Only Ninetales knew what the psychic beam was. It was a taste of her curse.

Before Ninetales could take any pleasure in her victory beam, Gardevoir did something heroic. She jumped in front of the beam, and protected her trainer. The beam hit her, forcing Gardevoir back and crashing into her trainer.

Gardevoir's trainer slipped back a couple of times as Gardevoir lost her balance. That was enough to push him over the steep edge of Four Island.

Her trainer slipped off, but in a last hope of survival, he grabbed a hold of one of the rocks.

In reality, the highest peak of Four Island wasn't that high. Sure, it was high enough for someone to die if they fell over it. But, let's say there was water below. If someone fell to the water, no matter how they fell, they would most likely survive, depending on their condition.

Luckily for Gardevoir's trainer, there in fact was water below. There was the opening to the Icefall cave, and near it, if jumped correctly, there was a lake. But how deep was it?

Yes, once in that predicament, Gardevoir's trainer's thoughts came to how he was going to get down. He was thinking how deep that lake was. Could he make it?

Looking back up, he tried to call to Gardevoir, but she wouldn't answer.

Up where Gardevoir was, she seemed to be frozen in place, eyes dulling. She was dying.

"You..." Ninetales began. She was confused. "Why did you protect your trainer?"

Gardevoir couldn't answer. Ninetales turned to see off the edge of the cliff. She looked down to see the trainer halfway down, climbing slowly.

"You down there," she called. The trainer looked up at her, worried that she might do something to him. "I need your help. If you want to save Gardevoir, then you must help me. Are you willing?"

the trainer just looked at the Ninetales, no expression in his face. Then, he pushed himself from the ledge, and with one scream, he fell straight to the water. After a few seconds, he climbed out and ran off towards the trees.

"He's running...after Gardevoir just saved him...why?" Ninetales wondered. She turned and faced Gardevoir. Gardevoir didn't have much time until her death. "Fine, he deserves it."

Gardevoir ran on all fours to the bushes and a bit deeper, ignoring Gardevoir and the badge on the floor completely. She reached a small gray orb, just enough to fit in her bite. She brought it back to the edge, and put it down. Then, she concentrated.

"This human shall be cursed...for the next one thousand years," her tails came up, and the orb lit up. "He shall be punished for leaving his partner behind. His curse is to live as a Pokémon, for the next one thousand years."

a bright light shot from the orb and straight into the woods. It hit it's mark directly. Ninetales knew it did. And she smiled.

She turned away as the orb turned to dust. She began to walk towards the Gardevoir, but felt something in the air. It was something that didn't quite match. She turned, and gazed upon the town.

"There is an incident..." she stated. Taking it all in, she turned to the Gardevoir and spoke to her. "I can save you alone, but you must follow a certain role. Once you complete this role, you may live again. This is important...it involves the survival of man."

Gardevoir could hear Ninetales, but couldn't say anything. There was that strong beam of Ninetales that kept her on the ground, unable to move.

There wasn't much else left to say. Ninetales concluded her speech.

"Your role is to save our world, Gardevoir."

* * *

Ah, writing this chapter made me remember writing the first chapter to Into the Minds. So refreshing. Those of you that have beaten the game probably know what just happened. Oh, and that yellow orb Teresa went in; if you've already passed the game, picture it as that orb your main character goes in at the end of the game. Or, when the credits come at least. Everything written here is based on what was said in the game. For example, in the game, Gardevoir said her trainer was a bad person, but she liked him anyways. So, I made her trainer part of a bad organization, that does bad things, and show it in a way that shows how Gardevoir still cares for her trainer. 

Well, later everyone. Review if you can, I like reviews. XD


	3. Big Boom

Sorry if this chapter isn't described well enough. ;

Enjoy.

**Chapter 3: Big Boom**

there was a long silence between all in the colony of the Sneasels. Some held their breath, knowing very well what was about to happen.

Positions were set; the Sneasels climbed all over the walls just to get to their designated spot. It was all in front of their cave.

It did not take long for the signal to be given. And when it was, all of the species put their foot down, smashing it upon the rocks.

Together, the strength of their hit on each location was strong. And within the next few seconds, those that had hit the rocks now ran away as fast as they could.

The rocks fell from the ceiling of the cave, closing in on the mouth. The entrance was sealed completely.

Appointer Irathie was satisfied. Now, they could live in peace.

Or so he hoped. He had took in what Mare had stated, and gave a designated date on when they should begin their climb out.

As the walls were completely sealed, the cave went into an uproar of cheers. The sound was immense within the cave, as nothing escaped, but that was not a problem.

Everything was going right. There was no problem that they could foretell at the moment. The biggest problems were the blinded darkness, but otherwise, there were none.

All of the Sneasels had entered a larger part of the cave. At the near top, two of the Sneasels were able to cut a hole; enough for air. Not enough to escape the cave.

As such, a light shined down to the center. It was remarkable.

They were all so sure that this would work. But there was still one that had doubt. And because of that doubt, that one was not anywhere inside the cave.

Mare swiftly climbed the rocky edges outside, nearing the top. At midpoint, he stared off into the darkness. Of the night. There was nothing but what had always been there.

Mare waited, trying to believe that there would be something very noticeable. He felt that there was something wrong, as the others had. But what was it that was crawling within him, telling him that there was a great danger.

Then he saw it; fire burst from one location on the ground. Was that it? it was too far, but Mare's vision could still make it out.

Would there be many happening? What was going to happen?

There was a sudden voice within him. It was telling him to get back to the cave. Yet, he knew that it was too late now. They had already sealed the entrance.

All he could do now was watch, and wait for something to happen.

* * *

The fire department was few. In fact, there seemed to be only 3 on the job. Quickly, they started their trucks and drove to the designated location. It was not hard to miss; they could see the smoke rise.

At the front of the house, they found the owner, pointing in dismay at the fire flow throughout the second floor.

"Hurry; my granddaughter is in there!" he said in a blur of words.

Quickly, two of the men pulled the fire hose. The second floor was bursting with flames; they were going to need it.

As those two did this, the third fireman was telling the owner that everything was going to be alright.

As soon as the other two were ready, the third followed them in.

The door was wide opened. The men entered. There was no fire at the first room; they would just have to continue on. They pulled forward until they made it to the stairs. The heat was intense at the foot of the steps.

And so they made their ascend.

Wendy slowly awoke from her faint. She could barely see the glimmer of the fire in front of her. Once her vision returned to her, she found the heat entering the bathroom, as the fire hit the ceiling.

She put her arms in front of her face, afraid of what the fire would bring. Pain? Maybe so.

She did what she believed was right. Slowly, she readied her ice beam. At the second she shot it out, she did not see the water from the fire hose hit the hall. The man holding the hose fell straight in line with her attack.

The man had screamed for a moment, not being able to take the coldness. But then, his screams subsided. He was now a block of ice, along with the hose. It only took 2 seconds for the water to push harder and break the ice in front of it.

Yet, it did not break the block of ice that was the fireman.

Wendy passed the man. She saw the other two shocked at what they had just seen, but Wendy did not have them in her mind.

It was only luck that led her to where Wendy had slept. And once she was there, she stopped, frozen in horror.

The room was ablaze with fire. Even the bed was on fire.

She did not know how much time had passed. But somehow, between the time that she was knocked out and the time when she awoke, her trainer had returned.

And she could her form on the bed, on fire.

Wendy did not want to go through this. She couldn't.

The more she stood there, the more her mind continued to process it. She didn't understand; she had seen her trainer disappear. Why was her body still there?

She closed her eyes, not wanting to look. She ran through the fire of the room, and jumped out of the already broken window.

On her land, she continued her sprint, not looking back and keeping her eyes shut.

She opened her eyes again, once she was a good distance from the house. Then she turned back. She looked at the clouds. And she finally saw it; green and yellow streams, moving higher than the smoke.

She looked back at the burning house. Her trainer was in there.

She looked back at the yellow and green streams. Could her trainer also be in there?

If that was so, then what she believed would be that her trainer's body was dropped…and her soul was kept. Is that how it was?

She turned away from the house. It was in some strange timing; as she turned away, there was yet another explosion behind her. She turned back, only to see the house burst completely.

The grandfather was looking scared. She could hear him crying out.

She closed her eyes, and turned away.

* * *

Mare pulled himself to the top of the cliff. There, he sat himself down, watching the town. He was alone up there.

Time was passing. With each ticking moment, he tried not to blink. Just watch. Hoping that nothing would happen.

He felt that it would take a short while until the sun would rise again. The sky told him this.

Eventually, there was a brighter flash at the location of the fire. Mare did not even flinch. He just watched.

* * *

Dawn neared. When the fire had gone off at that one house during the night, the people that remained knew that it was just about time to go.

Mare saw this; he saw many of the humans ride off in their own watercrafts, not wanting to wait for the large one that took massive amounts of humans.

He felt that he was now alone in the island. There was a pinkish light slowly filling the sky from behind him. Dawn was arriving.

* * *

Wendy stopped running once she was near the center of the town. She stopped to take her breath. As she did, she was able to see the humans, and their desperate runs from homes. Where were they going? She remembered Teresa telling her something about it, but it seemed to have completely slipped her mind now. She desperately tried to remember what it was that was going on.

But she could not.

Once her breath was caught, she decided to move about the town. Slowly, she walked to the center of an intersection.

She looked all around her. The humans had run. There was none in sight.

She looked in each turn, trying to find some sort of life. And she finally found something, off in the distance.

She ran down that street.

It was not that far. She stopped a few feet away from the human. He was loading some papers to a large truck. Another human left the house and began to say something to that human. The next second, he stopped what he had been doing, and left with the other human.

Wendy was going to continue after them, but more humans ran from that building the second human had gone out of.

It was a large crowd, but they all seemed around the same age. Overall, about 10 other humans ran out of the buildings. Some went to their cars, while others just ran.

And Wendy found herself alone again.

When they were all gone, she took her steps towards the papers that were going to be stacked. As she got near them, she recognized what they were. They were what the humans called, Newspaper.

Wendy could not read the writing spread across the paper. It would be useless to try. But there were the pictures too. She stared upon the picture on the first page.

It looked like some kind of mushroom. She could tell from where she stood that it was more of a drawing than a photograph. Since it was a drawing, the mushroom did not look very clear. It looked choppy around the edges, looking more like flames.

She looked at the headline. She could not read it. Yet, she continued her gaze on the paper, trying to think of what it could possibly mean:

BOOMSDAY TODAY!

Nope, didn't make sense.

* * *

The sun was beginning to rise into the sky. The clouds were blocking most of it.

The light still shone through. And the dawn's early light was shining over the edge, striking Mare's back as he stood and watched.

There was something in the distant sea. They were much darker looking than the watercrafts used in the town. And they looked less penetratable. He could see this clearly.

This is where it all began. There was a flare along the top of the watercraft. It flew in the air for a long while. And it neared the town. What was it? Mare was not sure. He tried to see what it could possibly be.

He thought about the Tee Vee. He had seen something that looked similar to what he was seeing, but he forgot what it did. What was it?

* * *

And yet, as Mare thought it over, Wendy's eyes opened wide. She stood above the building the humans had gotten out of. And she knew exactly what this thing was.

It was a bomb.

She turned around and jumped off of the building. She hit the concrete ground running.

She ran passed many of the streets. Eventually, she made it to a park. The bomb flew right over her, but it was nearing the ground.

Where was she to hide? She could not think of a location in the short amount of time she had to hide.

There was a bridge crossing a small creak. It was a wide bridge, able to take carriages with Rapidashes leading, taking humans. It was all she could think of at the moment; she hid under the bridge.

As soon as she hid the shallow waters, she heard the big boom, and saw a blinding light begin to color the atmosphere.

* * *

It landed somewhere between the town and the cave. When it struck, it shook the land, as the explosion began to range outwards. The force was strong, getting Mare unbalanced to the point where he fell over the cliff edge.

As the fire hit the water, it began to swirl upwards to wash above the cliff. As it swirled, it pulled the water upwards.

Mare was caught in a twister of flame and water, both spinning in the opposite directions from each other. As the flame and water touched, steam emitted.

Mare had enough of this; he let out a cry from the top of his lungs. And as he did so, he forced the water surrounding him to turn to ice.

Now he stood upon a towering ice sculpture, and as such, the fire began circle him, to trap.

But Mare was not finished yet; he continued his blizzard. It appeared as if he was freezing the fire, as hard as that was to imagine.

But no; he was trapping himself in his own icebox. And when he was done, all he could see was the fire swirl all around the outside.

* * *

The noise of the explosion was deafening. Wendy tried to block the sounds out, but it was impossible. They were passing through.

Before she could think, the fire from the explosion passed over the bridge, burning everything.

As it went farther outwards, the inner fire began to fill Wendy's area. She pushed herself to a corner of the bridge as the fire passed under it. and what she knew would happen, happened.

The fire pulled the bridge off the ground. Not even the fact that it was made of concrete could save it. as such, Wendy's shelter was given away, and the fire enclosed around her.

Wendy had no plans of dying in the fiery inferno. As soon as the bridge was pulled off the ground, she used faint attack to survive. She created a black substance, which surrounded her, and as it did, made her lose her own matter.

She wasn't going to die; she was going to teleport to the safest location. Anywhere would work.

She was then gone from plain sight.

* * *

To think that being trapped inside the cave was a good idea was the worst possible thought ever.

The explosion arose from above, and entered the small crevasse made by the Sneasels, and began to scale downwards to the entire group.

They were trapped.

Yet, in no way were they going to let themselves be submitted to death. Many lined and gave their most powerful ice beam and blizzard they could conjure in the short amount of time that they were given to even think of the attacks.

The fire was being trapped by ice. They kept on their attacks, adding layer over layer of ice.

* * *

It only took one crack on the icebox for Mare to realize it was not going to his little icebox was tossed against the cliff wall, and began to melt at rapid speeds.

It was going to waste almost all of Mare's energy, but it was for survival. He gave it his all to create more ice walls around his cube.

The icebox fell to the completely dehydrated water below. It was hard to even call it water; most was evaporating quickly.

As the icebox hit the floor, it cracked completely. And now, the fire was beginning to surround the inside of the cube.

This was it; there was no way Mare could fight it.

He was about to submit to it; submit to death. Until a black force crashed right into him, forming again on his side.

He knew what species the force was and knew what attack was used.

_Of course!_

On quick instinct, he pulled the forming Sneasel next to him, and challenged himself with his own faint attack.

And they both disappeared from sight.

* * *

They appeared a few feet over the sea on the other side of the island. They landed in the water, and as they did, the explosion continued overhead.

It was even more deafening underwater

The water tugged them both deeper as the fire brought it upwards to create a massive wave.

As the water rose, so did the two Sneasels.

Mare began to shoot out another ice beam. It hurt this time; he could not keep this up.

As he shot it out, the wave began to freeze over. They had already been dragged near the top. The wave began to stop in the frozen beam, and the two fell from under its curl.

They had fallen out of the wave, and as Mare and Wendy neared the ground, Mare froze the curve ahead, forcing the two to slide. He froze all of the water in front of him, having them both slide onwards.

The frozen tidal wave which faced the wrong direction (away from the land) collapsed in the burning embers, and broke into the already frozen over waters. As it entered the water again, it created rougher waters.

Mare tried to swim above the water, but each try forced him down with the swaying of the ocean. He looked around, trying to find anything to help him. And he found that other Sneasel drifting on the sea, also trying to save herself.

It was in Mare's nature; he swam to her.

As he neared her, pulled at her arm, and swam to the rocky shore.

It took several minutes for the two to reach the land. It was there where Mare sprawled himself on the ground, unable to move himself. He felt pain all over his body. He turned himself to his back, just in time to see Wendy collapse in a faint.

The rocks that they were on were steaming hot. The sky above was smoky twilight.

Mare took deep breaths, trying to return his heart rate. Breath after breath was getting him closer to his comfort zone. And once he was sure that he was there, he stood, still feeling the flames of pain that had just hit him.

He went over to Wendy. He did not have to ask if she was alright. She looked pretty much dead in her unconscious form. If it had not been for the shallow breaths she was giving off, he would have passed her off as dead.

Mare bent over, picking her up. He had to help her out; it was the right thing to do.

He walked over the rocks, carrying Wendy on his arms.

* * *

The entire island had been burnt to a crisp. It seemed as if all the green had been washed off, and whatever green was left was being burned by continuous fires.

From the front of the island, the armored ships arrived. There were many soldiers that walked onto the beach, weapons at hand.

It was now time to see if there were any life forms on the island. And if there were, they would kill them.


	4. Land of Radiation

**Chapter 4: Land of Radiation**

Mare had enough strength in him to climb up the remnants of a stone wall with Wendy, and rest her on top. This would be where he would say good bye. It just had to happen; now, he was going to search for the cave, enter, and tell what he had just experienced.

He wasn't completely healthy; he tripped as he walked, and as he went on, his vision blurred. He had only gone a few feet away from the wall until he fell onto the ground floor. He took a good sniff at the air. And he knew that there was something wrong.

There was something very thick in the air. It made sense for the thick dense feeling to be there; there had just been an explosion.

Slowly, Mare stood again, trying to continue on. He looked at the ground before him, trying to see exactly where he would be going. He saw the land rising. At the end, he knew that it would form the cliff over the cave. He was close.

He trudged onwards. Each step seemed to force even more weight over him. He grinded his teeth together as he neared the edge. It took a few more minutes for him to be able to stand there. The air was still.

He looked down. There seemed to be nothing; just a burned mass. In fact, the cave seemed to have been punctured. He squinted. It was only about—how long was it? However long it was (seeming like hours to him, but he took it as minutes), it was that time ago that he could have sworn that his vision was perfect. And here he stood, stumbling to watch below. Could it be the darkness? It might.

Somehow, the fire had shaped the side of the mountain. It was at a new angle; it could easily be passed off as a slide. Taking it as that, he slid off the side, nearing the new ground. As he hit the solid ground, he winced at the pain.

After a few seconds, he recovered and stood. He turned to his left. The cave entrance was right there; and it was open.

He walked to the center of the opening, and stared into the darkness. He could hear something, but it was unclear. Again, his vision was blotched. He was beginning to fall backwards, but the second he had, an invisible force caught him.

He tried to see what it was, but it appeared to be nothing. He was lifted off the ground by this same invisible force. These forces felt like the claws of his kind, grabbing at him, trying to help him into the cave. And that was the direction he was going; deeper into the cave.

As he entered, the invisible claws began to gain some color. Their voices were still hard to understand. Mare tried to keep an ear out for what it could be that they were saying, but he picked up nothing. He gave up on this, and concentrated more on trying to see who it was that was taking him. In the sudden darkness, the invisible were now becoming complete figures.

It was his own kind.

Now Mare understood it. He was seeing nothing because he was near death. He was near the sleeping point, and at this point, his eyes refused to see any more of what was moving. But then he knew that if what he was thinking was true, then eventually, he would lose consciousness. He was ready to accept this. But he was not ready to lose one of his own kind.

"Above—outside—not far from here; there is a female waiting…" that was all Mare could say before his eyelids completely shut.

* * *

The many Sneasels began to search their surroundings. The explosions outside had created a hole at the entrance that they had created. They saw that it was over. But even though they believed it was so, they were still going to take caution. There was a chance that there could be another plan ready by an enemy to sneak up on them, and finish them.

Yes; they now believed that there was something more. They believed that this was pulled off as an attack against them. They had nothing to give in to such thoughts other than the fact that their homeland was just destroyed.

A few climbed up the newly shaped cliff. At the very tip top, they all caught a gaze upon the darkening skies. It was strange how not so long ago, they were nearly clear of clouds. And now…were they even clouds? They seemed to be the sign that something very wrong had happened.

It only took one Sneasel to catch the gaze of what used to be the town. It shocked this particular Sneasel to find the vessels stopping before land, and dropping humans down onto the shores. The humans seemed to be heavily equipped with gear, and were running right into the torn to pieces town. What were they going to do? Were they there to…find survivors? That would be a very quick response from the humans. But what were they to find?

This Sneasel pointed out the men in the far distance, letting the fellow beneath him know. And that brought a chain of news all to way down. It eventually made it to the Appointers. They were not happy; the Weaviles stepped up the cliff, climbing. There were 4 of them. Irathie was one of them. At his first glance, he summed up what was happening all in his mind. He did not have to think of any other option; he knew what was going to happen. He experienced it all before.

"We must get away from here," began Irathie.

"What are we looking at?" Appointer Kereru wondered.

Irathie kept quiet for a moment, not wanting to say what he knew was true. But he had to; it would be the only way to safety. It would involve leaving their home. It seemed wrong to just abandon the place as so, but deep inside, Irathie knew that for survival, it had to be done. The memories of the past were returning; he had to somehow get the entire colony away. Away from the humans, before it was too late.

"We are looking at a bomb," Irathie answered. "What we experienced was just the ignition; what is coming is the fire."

* * *

Wendy awoke, slowly. She groggily stood, unable to hear. She a claw upon her ears, trying to move whatever it was that was blocking the sound. Whatever it was, it was not about to return her ability to hear. So instead of worrying about her hearing, she began to worry about the ability to breathe.

The air was very thick and dense; too dense. She fell over the stone wall and to the floor, where she coughed continuously. She felt very sick. It only took a small amount of time, but by the end of it, she was spewing her dinner. The foul smell of it mixed with the thick air, and caused her to spew even more. When she was done, she crawled away, a mess written upon the destroyed ground.

She used the wall to help support her as she stood. As she tried with all of her strength to stand, she looked around her location. Was that where she had been dropped off by her own saving attack? Was this the safest place she could be? It appeared to be. There was no fire. Yes, the ground was filled with heat, but it was not strong enough to completely burn her.

She walked away from the wall, trying to garner some balance in some way, but some forces kept her mind boggled and dizzy. She felt that she would cough out all of her meals from the day before, and possibly even more. It was here where she collapsed on the ground, and refused to pick herself up. It struck her in her own mind of where she needed to be; she needed to be in a Pokémon Center. And she needed to be there with her trainer, Teresa.

On the floor, she wept. There was nothing else she could do; she was too defeated for anything else. He tears lulled her to sleep.

* * *

An entire hour had passed. The soldiers continued their search around the town in a hurry. So far, they had found nothing. They knew that they wouldn't; the real prizes were nearer to the cliff edge of the Icefall Cave. That's where they would find the most life, and deep inside, they knew that that was where they needed to be. Unfortunately for them, they were told to search the entire town (or what was left of it) first. So they did. It was going to take up a lot of time, but those were the orders.

It was hard to find any life at all. If there had been life within the town, then the life was wiped away with the single explosion. No matter; it would take about 30 more minutes before they were to finish searching, and go on to the most likely better populated areas. 30 minutes is all they asked for. In the mean time, they were tearing down what remained of the town.

* * *

Mare awoke. He looked around his position, finding a bit of a rush going about with the colony. He was within the cave. He knew this place very well. It was where the sick were left. They were not treated in any way; they were just left to sit there, and most likely, rot.

He sat up, shaking his head as if he had a headache. He really wished he had one at the moment, but there was nothing, unfortunately. It only took one glance to the right for him to see a familiar face. Wendy.

He did not know this Sneasel personally; he only knew that he saved her life. He didn't even know her name. It was a shame that she was going to die down there if she did not wake up soon. Thinking about her death made him wonder how she was brought down there. Most likely, the others had heard him out and had gone out to search for her. Well, she wasn't any better off in here.

Standing to a complete upright position, he walked on out of the sickness chamber. He did not need to be there. He was not sick; he just fell away from the light for awhile. He believed that he was now ready to face whatever came out at him. Just to make sure, he flexed his arms, building up the muscles to try and find any pained spots. But he did not find any areas of pain. He was fine to live another day.

Mare made his way out of the cave, watching the commotion outside. In all honesty, he had never seen so much of the colony outside. But, what was outside was indeed a site. It was something that they were most likely never to see again if everything magically returned to normal. The skies were much darker than they were when Mare was out before, and there were more clouds filling in all spots where light traces could come by. It was strange; the sky had turned from day to night. Sure, the day hadn't fully started, but he had never seen time go backwards as such, or go forward so fast that he did not catch the light of day. Or maybe it was something else. How long had he been asleep?

Mare found Appointer Irathie coming down form the side of the cliff, and landing right next to him. He did not expect a happy greeting from him. so it shocked him when the question he did not expect was asked.

"Are you alright?" Irathie asked.

For a moment, Mare was frozen, unable to answer. His mind became blank, and the question blurred. It was as if Irathie had spoken an entire different language. It was a pain for Mare to give out the words, "I'm sorry—what?"

"Were—you—in—any—way—harmed," asked Irathie, but he said it word by word to get it through.

Mare shook himself away from his sudden freeze, and answered too quickly to him. "Yes, I'm fine." He looked up to the sky, hoping that on this time that he looked, he would find light. But he did not. He turned back to Irathie. "I'm fine;" he said calmer. After a moment of silence from both, Mare asked, "Is there another plan?"

"Yes, there is," answered Irathie. "I've told the other Appointers already. We are to run from here. There is danger coming."

"Danger has already arrived and gone," Mare countered. He was trying to talk about the bomb. "We should be safe now—,"

"No, we aren't safe," Irathie said. "Mare, do you remember when I told you—," he looked around, as if anyone else was listening to him. after making sure there were no eyes or ears, he brought Mare close to him. "Do you remember when I told you I wasn't from this colony?"

Mare thought for a moment. It did not take long for that conversation that other day to return. "Yes, I do."

"Something has been happening with the humans. I was once on the streets of a human settlement. When I was there…I just can't explain. I will try later, but as of now, you need to know that you and I—and the rest of this colony cannot be here. Do you understand?"

There were loose ends all around Irathie's answer, and they way he said it made Mare want to know exactly what it was that he knew. But he did not ask. He just knew that he should follow what he said. He nodded to Irathie, then passed him. However it was going to happen, Mare did not want to be the one that told the colony the bad news of moving. It was going to have to be Irathie himself, along with the other Appointers, as he had told them. He would just follow the crowd, and when the going would get tough, he'd begin his loyal fight for the colony.

* * *

Two Sneasels traveled a bit farther from the colony. They were scouting what remained. There were no trees, and as far as they could see, the remaining of the trees were being burned to the ground. In all honesty, there was nowhere to go. Just burned remnants of what remained of the island. Still the scouted a bit farther. These two had gotten a bit closer to where the bomb had erupted. Now, they stood at the edge of a crater, looking in at the destruction of the bomb. It was a very large crater; that's the only way that they could put it. In no way was it the biggest in the world, but it was large.

They both stood before the crater. So far, none were in awe. They had all of their awestruck taken the moment they left the cave. Slowly, the two neared the part that would begin it's downward ascend. They did not go down; they just looked. It was deep indeed. They both looked at each other, and then back down at the crater.

One smiled, pretending to view the ice inside the cave. If there were more ice formation within the cave that looked like the crater, then there would be more happy childhoods. It was a random thought that hit, in all of the situations that could have possibly been.

There was a ring in the air, and the one next to her seemed to fall forward. Just as the male Sneasel began his fall, the other gripped at his claws. She was surprised at his sudden drop, and began to laugh when she had his grip. Only, there was something else. On his forehead, where his jewel would be, there was a mark. She stopped her laughter and looked carefully. It was then that she realized that something had punctured him through the head, with some sort of tiny object.

She let go, afraid. Then she looked at the other side of the crater. It was shocking at what she found.

There were 4 humans on the other side, equipped with weaponry. One was aiming right at her. She was down with one shot. Those two shots filled the air. Yes, the colony heard the shots. Now was the time for them to be alert.

The humans were coming.


	5. Plan of Action

**Chapter 5: Plan of Action**

Wendy awoke, startled. She felt around her as if she would find some sort of life draining power flowing past her. But there was nothing. After awhile of fumbling to stand, she stared around the room. Overall, there were 5 other Sneasels within the icy room. 4 had seemed to be asleep, while the other lay awake, yet looked with dead eyes.

She shuddered; how had she gotten down there? However she had, she had no plans of staying there. She moved away from the room, looking at a much larger rock form area. There was a welcome of air; it was not like the thickness of the air outside. She gladly inhaled. And when she had, she felt that where she was, felt extremely welcoming to her.

She walked down the first hall of ice. It was like she was walking down a circular tube, winding deeper down. It was like this until she reached she believed should have been the main cavern of sorts; it was large, and there were many of her kind wondering around.

She looked from left to right, up to down, unsure of what she should be feeling. What went through her mind was how she got there. There was no answer she could think of; she had fallen to sleep, and then awakened. She shook her head; something happened in-between. It was then that a Sneasel wondered to her side, looking at her for awhile, then gave a question.

"Who are you?"

"Uh—Wendy…" she answered.

"Hmm…oh, you are the one they found outside, aren't you? You're an outsider."

"I think so…"

"Well, are you feeling alright?"

She thought for a moment. There seemed to be no pains around her. She could breathe much better now too. In all reality, she felt very much healthy again. Then again, she wasn't really sick…maybe for a moment, she believed that she was sick, but it was gone. It was just the air; it did not feel right to her, and it made her to believe that it could have been her that had been the one that was sick. Yes, it made perfect sense.

"Yes; actually, I feel good." She was about to continue onwards, but stopped. She had to ask a question; "Where am I?"

"You are at our home. We welcomed you for the dead."

That was not the answer Wendy would have liked to hear…it kind of creeped her out. She turned away from the Sneasel, gazing upon the few that were scattered all around the cavern. She walked onwards. It was in this room where she found mostly females and newly born Sneasels. It did not take long before her senses told her that she was actually in a colony.

Now where was she to go? The last traces of images she had of the outside world were of it burned down. It wouldn't be a good idea to go back out there. She crossed her arms, seeming to think about it. If she shouldn't go back outside, then should she stay where she was? She had a bad vibe from the answer of that one Sneasel.

She neared a wall, and sat against it, hanging her head down. She stayed at that spot for several minutes, not doing a thing. It did not bother any of the other Sneasels. It appeared to her that it was okay to just sit around, and wait for something to happen. Worst case scenario; she wasn't too sure. But it couldn't be too bad.

A female came by to sit by her. She made room for her. She did not have to; there was still space for the other Sneasel to sit with good distance. But strangely, this Sneasel did not go for the distance; she neared her, sitting right by her side.

"So you are from the outside?"

Wendy didn't really face her; she just had her eyes on her for a moment. "Yes…" she answered.

"How is it out there?"

How was she supposed to explain that? Wendy opened her mouth, but words failed to be released. She shook her head, and then began her words again. "It looks…dead…there's nothing out there…no life…no humans…nearly no air…out there," it was at this moment that she clearly looked at the Sneasel, face to face; "it feels as if you walked into the realm where only the dead live."

* * *

What was that noise? Mare had heard something off. It was a bit far off, and there was still a blur of thickness in the air, so it was a bit hard to see exactly what had happened. It also did not help when the noise was new to them. It sounded like a louder than ordinary pop. It was so loud that the others out there turned to see where the bullets location had come from. And only Irathie knew what the sound was.

"We have to move; now," he said. There was a sense of rush in the way he said it; he was obviously desperate in this.

The other Appointers climbed down the cliff edge. All 4 of them got together and began to speak. None of the Sneasels were paying attention to the Weaviles. One Sneasel was just about to walk off, towards the sound. Mare grabbed onto his arm, shaking his head. Somehow, he felt that he should not allow any of them to leave sight. There was no telling what the shots could have been.

There was a silence drifting past all of them. Slowly, they quieted down to low voices, until the traces could not even be heard. The silence even brought the Appointers to stop their speaking to look ahead. There was something over there, where the shots had rang out. And it wasn't something any of them would want to see. They felt it within them. Irathie was onto something; he knew what would most likely happen if they did not move. So, he moved everyone onwards.

"We've got to move everyone away from the cave and to safer ground!" he commanded. His word was almost the exact of law; the Sneasels followed his orders. Some returned inside the cave to gather the others and bring them. Some were climbing the cliff edge, every once in awhile looking where the shots had gone off in hopes of seeing something. And if they did find something, then that it was something that would be harmless.

Mare was the kind that would follow orders from all above him. His orders were to run to safety. Although he would have normally followed this order, what he was asked to do is something he just would not do. It was not in his nature to run. If they were all going to run, then he would be the one that made sure they all made it safe and sound.

He ran back into the cave. There were Sneasels running back out of the cavern, getting to their escape. He sighed. He closed his eyes for just a second, canceling out any noises that began to stir within the echoing walls of the cave. When he opened them, he heard nothing. He just saw everyone running towards the exit. It was the only way he could concentrate while doing this; blocking out any sound.

He pointed towards the exit, and though he could not hear his words, he knew that he was telling them to run out of the cave. There was one that jumped in front of him, seeming to want to tell him something. He did not let this Sneasel answer, and instead, kept pointed, and told the Sneasel to escape; that there was danger coming. And the Sneasel left. He did this the entire time. Yet, this wasn't working. There were still a few fumbling around inside. They needed to hurry; he wasn't sure how much time they had.

Something had clicked in his mind throughout the situation. It seemed as though his mind was etched that there was a major catastrophe coming their way. He should have that image in his mind; he just saw a bomb go off not so far from himself, and nearly destroy him. If anything, he should now fear. But the problem was not that he feared; he did not fear. It was that he was somehow, even if not intentionally, garnering power. If this kept up for him, then there was a chance that he would be no better off than the ones who destroyed their home.

* * *

Wendy did not have time to chat with that other Sneasel for very long; there were more Sneasels entering and ordering the others around. She wasn't sure if this was natural; she had never been in a colony such as this before. That was one thing that she and the other Sneasel were speaking of. She had told that other Sneasel that she was an outsider, and belonged to a trainer. It kept her interested for awhile, so Wendy went on with how she and Teresa faired with battles. It still hurt a little to talk about Teresa, but she was not about to weep into a fit of tears right there. Even thought that was what she needed badly.

Another Sneasel forced her to stand. She did not argue. It was then that she was pushed to the exit. None of the others were being pushed. This made up Wendy's mind; the Sneasel was deliberately pushing her around because she was an outsider. It didn't matter in the least to her; it was just the way their nature was. She was willing to submit to that, but any harm being thrust on her and she would charge back.

She began a sprint, as to not have the other Sneasel push her. Some others were running too. She followed them, thinking that they'd know where to go. Nearing the exit, she found one Sneasel pushing around another to get them out. Was it possible that there was another outsider, or was this Sneasel colony really just…rude?

Once out in the darkness, she took a deep breath of thickened air. This wasn't going to work. She would have to take small amounts of breaths in order to move along.

One thing she noticed were the Sneasels climbing the edge of a cliff. Assuming this was the way to go, she went ahead and began her ascend too. Then, there was a sharp ring in the air that she did not expect. From that ring came a hole near her right claw. She looked at what had hit. It did not take long to identify. It was a bullet, as in, for guns. What would bring guns here? Who would be using guns here?

It was then that there were continuous shots heard. She looked up where she was climbing to find bullets being fired on the cliff. It started at the top, and was going down. It hit on 3 Sneasels before it reached Wendy, and barely missed her, hitting the Sneasel below her. Those that were hit fell of, falling on other Sneasels, or just flipping uncontrollably to the bottom.

The situation was obviously a serious one. If Wendy planned on surviving the day, she would have to do this in a hurry. In a run. In the wild way. Just thinking about living like a wild Sneasel…well, the idea did not appeal to her. She was actually hoping that she would find some sort of civilized human to plead to. But who? No one would understand her language other than the Sneasels.

She couldn't keep her thoughts clear as she climbed; they were tossed out of her mind as she tried to dodge being shot. She turned around, gasping, her heart rate beating faster. She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't doubt what she saw, but she really hoped it wasn't true. The humans were trying to hurt the Sneasels. And now, they were a few feet away from the cave…

* * *

Mare kept on pushing everyone through. His plan to block everything out wasn't working though; there was a ring in the air, and that brought back the sounds of all the Sneasels trying to leave the place. If he were to get to the entrance of the cave, then maybe he could distract whatever it was that was ringing…stop it for a short amount of time. The plan actually sounded like it could work to him.

He turned from his spot, and quickly, ran to the entrance of the cave. A bullet sped passed him, hitting the wall. It was enough to stop him. Now, he saw the face of the attackers.

It was strange; they had no faces with them. They were hidden behind black masks. Their entire attire seemed to be made of some type of black material. And strapped all around them were weapons. He wasn't sure what they were used for until he saw the end of the smoking barrel to the pistol that had just shot a bullet for him. time slowed as he stared at the human. He knew that this was a human under the clothing. But why? Why was a human attacking? Why were _humans_ attacking?

They all pointed their weapons at Mare. The only place he could go was back into the cave. He looked behind him. Everything was still too slow. He saw a Sneasel standing near the entrance, also looking out. More ringing was heard, much slower, as the humans shot at the Sneasels climbing and the ones on the floor. They even shot one that was already dead.

They did not care; they were going to harm them. It was an extermination of sorts. Mare refused to look back, still looking at the Sneasel at the entrance. Slowly, time began to speed a little. There was a little sign language going between Mare and the other Sneasel. It would be better explained as mind language. But by the end of the millisecond, the other Sneasel knew what to do.

"Now!" Mare yelled, jumping towards the cave. As he jumped, the humans readied their weapons at him, and one by one, began to fire. Again, slow. Mare was able to turn himself around in the air, and aim for the ceiling of the cave. The other aimed below the cave. They both shot their most powerful ice beam they could summon, and a wall began to form. Mare barely made it passed the forming wall, as the bullets were stopped by ice.

Time returned to normal. Bullets hit the ice, but did not pass it. Mare stared at the frozen wall, distorting the humans. They were just outside the cave. Now they were all locked in…there was no escaping them. The only entrance was that one. Most likely, the humans would find a way to break through the ice wall, and enter. And when they did, then they would most likely all die. That was it; all that were inside were doomed to stay and wait for their death.

Mare looked at the other Sneasel for a long while, breathing deeply. The other Sneasel was also breathing deeply. He had the look on his face; the look of question. The one that was wondering what the humans were doing there, and why they were trying to kill them all. At this time, they needed leaders. When this thought entered Mare's mind, he asked just one question to the other Sneasel.

"Where are the Appointers?"

* * *

The shootings did not stop at the entrance of the cave. They continued to the Sneasels that were climbing the cliff. Wendy was at the tip top, barely trying to pull herself over. A bullet hit directly under her, forcing her to pull herself faster, and once on the top flatter area, roll away from the cliff edge.

She did not stand. Instead, she cried to herself. It seemed strange; none of the other Sneasels were doing so, even after knowing that some of their kinds were just killed. It was an emotion that only Wendy had the privilege to feel; it was because she was born as a Sneasel meant to be the Pokémon of a trainer. It was because of this that she was able to further enter a circle only allowed by humans. It was the high intensity level of emotions; that's what it was.

So she cried; for Teresa; for Four Island; for the Sneasels. But deep in her gut, there was something boiling. It was the hatred. It was the hatred for the human kind. What were they thinking when they decided to attack the way they did? There was no logical ethics in their plans whatsoever.

It was because of their extremities that she cried. She tried to turn herself over, and hopefully, stand. But she could not. The farthest she got was turning over. Now, she looked down at the destroyed ground in front of her. To think that it was once filled with green. Why…?

There were more ringing shots. It was unclear to Wendy whether the shots were at the cave or at where she and the others were. She did not look over the edge, so if there were bullets rising from below, she did not see them. Instead of looking over to where the cliff was, she looked in the opposite direction.

The Sneasels were on the move. Almost all had abandoned her. She had to follow. If she wanted to live, she had to follow them. It wasn't much for any other reason in the world. What other reason than survival could there be?

She slowly and unsteadily got on her feet. Never did she look behind her. After gathering herself up, she ran forward, in hopes of catching up to the group of Sneasels.


	6. Cavern of Bravery

**Chapter 6: Cavern of Bravery**

Moving on. They were going to move on. Would they? It was unclear; the humans still stood before the ice wall. Mare kept his gaze upon them, waiting for them. If they were to break in, then all was lost. It was most likely that they would find their way in; Mare was ready for that instant. In that instant, they would have to do something he was unsure would ever happen. They would have to fight back against the humans, and at whatever costs, try to pass them.

Mare moved away from the wall, nearing the other Sneasel. The Other Sneasel did not look at him. Where were the Appointers in all of this? They were probably out above, saving the others that got out. But then what about the ones trapped inside the cave? Were they going to leave them?

He thought about what he would end up doing if he were an Appointer. If he were an Appointer, then he would most likely get the others that had made it out to safety as fast as possible. Is that what they were doing? Saving the others? They must have. But where would that leave them; the ones inside? Now thinking about it, Mare found that he would submit those inside as…dead.

No…they were not going to return. Those inside were to be stuck, and labeled dead. No help would come; those humans would break in and kill every single one of them. It was a grim realization, but the truth had to be faced.

He turned away from the wall and walked off. The other Sneasel stared at the door for a long while. As soon as the gunshots to the wall began, he turned in a jolt, and followed Mare back to the main room.

"Is there a plan?" he wondered.

"No; we have to tell the others of what's going to become of us," Mare said. As he finished, a Sneasel ran passed him. Mare grabbed him by ear and pulled him back. "It's too late; dangerous." he said. He let go, then continued on. For a long while, the two Sneasels stayed behind. Then, the one that had been following Mare ran to catch back up to him.

"Is that how you're going to do it?" he asked. "Just bluntly state that we're doomed?"

"What's your name?"

"Wha—my name? I am trying to ask a question!"

"Tell me. Please."

There was a short silence as the other Sneasel tried to get more words out of himself, but ended up stumbling over words. He stopped, and finally submitted to answering Mare's question. "Nadlew."

"Nadlew…I remember you from somewhere."

"Of course; I was the one telling you about the humans leaving. Remember? When you stood outside the cave?"

It took a moment for Mare to remember to scene. Finally, it hit him. Now he remembered Nadlew; he was the one jumping all over the place the day before, just before he spoke to Appointer Irathie.

"Yes, now I remember," Mare nodded. He stopped in his tracks. Nadlew did to. They both stared at each other for awhile. Both faces were unreadable to each other. Nadlew felt that this was a bad thing; he could not tell whether Mare's face was of the grimness on telling the others they were trapped, or on the acceptance of it. Whatever it was, Mare did not show it. What Mare saw in Nadlew was nothing. He would be able to picture that Nadlew was thinking of maybe still having hope, but there was no sign that he'd be determined in hope. They were both expressionless. "Nadlew, we're doomed. You should know that. Nothing we can do will save us; not even a lie. If they want hope, then they will have to stand and fight."

After an awkward silence, Mare felt that he was done. He left Nadlew, and continued to walk to the main cavern. That's when Nadlew called out again. "What if we all decide to fight? Then we have hope…don't we? If we just try and keep the entrance sealed by creating stronger walls of ice, then we have hope to live…"

"We'd be stalling. The hope you'd be giving would be for the humans to leave. That is all we have." Mare raised a fisted claw to the air, but did not look behind him. "In the end, the inevitable will happen; the humans will come in, and destroy us all. They tried to by destroying the island; I'd doubt that they would leave us be. They are here for a reason. That reason is extermination." By now, he had lowered his fisted claw. "As long as we are Sneasels, they will be chasing us, trying to kill us."

Nadlew caught up to Mare, and once near him yet again, he stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop. Now his expression was readable; it was determination to live. "Mare, are you even listening to what you are saying? You are saying that we should all collapse to the humans, and give up our lives. We should fight back!" Nadlew was breathing deeply, trying to get Mare to listen to him; to reason for the hope to fight.

"Nadlew, look behind you," Mare stated. Slowly, Nadlew turned. At first, he showed no sign of going against what he wanted. "What do you see?" he stopped, this time taking in what he saw. They were in the main cavern. All around both of them were more Sneasels. The only problem was that…most were the little ones, and their mothers, with only a few males. All that occupied were families. None were warriors, and none were prepared to fight for their lives. "Do you really want these children and mothers to be pitted against one of the most ruthless of all species known?"

Nadlew did not answer for a long while. Seeing as he got his point across, Mare began to walk forward. But he was stopped; Nadlew put his arm in front of him, not letting him pass. "They will not fight. They are not ready." He stared at Mare in the eyes; that determined sparkle continuing. "But _I_ am ready. And if none can fight back, then I will."

Mare smiled. It was not quite what Mare wanted, but what Nadlew was saying was showing that he was indeed a hero. He was not sure if Nadlew was qualified as a Warrior, but it was not the strength that would pull him. It was the determination. "Then _we_ are ready," Mare justified. "Best get ready now. Those humans will break through in a short while. We will both fight."

* * *

Outside, the humans began to circle the cliff to the left side. It was much easier to climb on that side than it was to climb upwards. Even though it was at a new angle, there was hardly a thing to hold on to; one wrong move would cause the death of them. So most moved to the other side to chase the other Sneasels. There were a few that stayed behind, readying their weapons to enter the once Icefall Cave.

Signals were given as the 7 men moved around to different positions. It was warm enough outside for the ice to quickly begin to melt. They just had to wait until it was weak enough to kick and break through. Each human had an automatic weapon for several shots to impact. It was a requirement for survival.

The ice was becoming thin. The first two that were the closest stepped closer, touching the ice. Once they felt that it wasn't weak enough by punching a bit, they signaled to wait. So the rest did just that. They only needed a few more minutes until they could break through. They had the patience for that.

One at the very back heard something in the background. He wasn't sure what it was, but it very much sounded like a Pokémon. It was not leafs that he heard; there were no leafs. It sounded much like a scrape on the ground. He turned around for awhile, looking around the landscape. He saw nothing; just the wasteland of Four Island. Figuring it was just something in his imagination. It did not matter what it was anymore; the ice was thin enough. The man at the front kicked, and the ice gave way.

* * *

Mare ended up telling the entire group inside the cavern that the humans were outside. He told them that he and Nadlew sealed the cavern with ice, reassuring them that they were safe. Then he added that it was going to last for awhile. Nadlew then added that there were high chances that the humans would follow the others outside instead of head for the cave. That there was a chance that they did not know that there were any more of them in the cave. Only Mare and Nadlew knew that there was no chance they would leave the cave entrance; they had seen them both. They were going to break through. Nadlew did not tell them of that part, and neither did Mare.

The first thing Mare did was make sure that everyone was okay. He walked one by one to the others, asking if they were fine. When he reached the few males, he told them the truth. That the humans were going to break in. Once he was done, he told them that he needed them to fight against humans with him, in order to leave the place alive. If they said that they would stand by their families (which were a few), then he would ask for them not to tell their families of what was going to happen. All in all, Mare had gathered 4 other males to fight back. Nadlew was surprised that Mare had done this, and wondered why he did not do the same.

"I did it because we need to live. As much as I don't feel we will live, the others have hope. Like you. If they wish to have a last stand, then I will let them. And I will gladly fight beside them."

Nadlew nodded, happy that Mare had done all of that. He was about to answer, when there was a sudden sound. Only those with the ears that the Sneasels had would be able to hear it. It was the sound of breaking ice. The humans were coming. "I'm ready," said Nadlew.

Mare nodded, and signaled the others that were to fight over. They were ready. All 6 of them walked to the entrance of the main cavern. There, they waited for a few seconds, then Mare led the way. They were not going to fight in the main cavern; they were not going to risk the lives of the mothers and children. As soon as they were out of sight of those in the main cavern, they sprinted.

* * *

One by one, the humans entered the cave, their weapons at hand. They all had their night vision turned on behind their masks. It was the only way that they would be able to see. They planned on relying on this ability throughout the entire cave; no matter how far they would go in. Their plan was to kill; they needed to see to do so.

The first hall of the cavern was not very long; soon, they found a fork in the tunnel. Two ways they could go. One led to the main cavern, the other to the waterfall. Two waited at the fork, while the rest went down one tunnel, leading to the waterfall. There was no point in all going there. It was used as a tourist attraction to visit the waterfalls, but that's as far as the government would allow people to go. There was a dead end there. It was the perfect start; that way they'd eliminate one area already.

They shot their weapons at a few of the swimming water types. They shot everything that moved, killing them. No Pokémon was being left alive. Once they were done with the waterfall, they began their trek back. Their plan had been going according to plan. There seemed to be no problems so far. It was when they reached the fork that they found a problem. It was not something they were expecting, and they were led to question whether leaving two men behind was such a good idea at all.

6 Sneasels stood before them. They could see their outline in the darkness. Even with the night vision on, the Sneasels' dark fur kept them blinded. For awhile. Finally, their vision was adjusted, and they could see all 6 clearly. All of them looked with a death stare at the humans. Behind them were the two they had left behind, lying on the ground in a small pool of blood. One at the head. The other at the crotch and neck.

To say the least, they were stunned. They were too stunned. And it only took one stunned human for one Sneasel to begin his attack, readying a slash across the neck. But that was the false move that this Sneasel had made; the man picked up his weapons, forcing the barrel at the Sneasel. The Sneasel hit the end of the weapon, and the automatic weapon fired.

This was the queue for the others. They quickly readied themselves, and ran forward forcefully. The closest one jumped at the one that had shot the other Sneasel dead and held on to the end of the barrel, staying away from the opening. He used the end of it to kick with sharp clawed feet at the head, gutting the man.

The Sneasel jumped over the man as the others piled on the other closest human. He landed on top of one man's weapon. Unfortunately, the man's hand was not on the weapon, it was on his hip, removing the knife, and striking the Sneasel on the side. He pushed the Sneasel against a wall as another aimed his gun at that Sneasel and shot many rounds at the head.

Mare, who had helped kill the man the others had pounced on, used faint attack and slashed at the back of the man that had held the Sneasel against the wall. He kept his claws dug deep into the man's back. The man screamed in agony, turning. Unfortunately, the one next to him had his gun already pointed at Mare. When the man moved, the other fired, and ended up killing his own.

As the man Mare rode fell backwards, Mare used faint attack, becoming that pile of dark matter yet again, and appearing in front of the man that had shot, slashing at the man's feet, and sliding under him. The man fell forward in pain.

The other man shot one more Sneasel dead, but Nadlew and the other remaining brought him down quickly by slashing all over his body, and continuously did so when the man was down and screaming in agony.

And the last man, the one that Mare had slashed at the legs, slowly tried to crawl towards his weapon that was just a foot out of reach. Mare walked to his side, ready to finish the man off. That's when the man turned himself over, pulling on a grenade on his chest strap. Mare knew what this was; he had seen it on the Tee Vee. It was like a miniature version of the bomb that had gone off outside. As soon as the man pulled the pin, Mare kicked the grenade out of his hands. It exploded in the distance, shaking the cave. Mare then stared back at the man. With no sympathy, he finished him off with a kick to the neck, with his sharp clawed feet.

It was over; they had won. The three Sneasels looked at each other, unsure of whether there were more around the corner or not. There seemed to be none remaining. Feeling that they were done, they left the hall, beginning their walk back to the main cavern.

* * *

"We managed to overcome them because we had surprised them," Mare stated. "If they had come to us, then most likely we would have lost. All of us. We would have stopped when we saw our children fall to them, and they would have killed us off as we watched in horror. Because we made the first strike, we had the upper hand." Mare was telling Nadlew of how they had won. While they were walking, Nadlew had told him that there indeed was hope since they had won. And this was Mare's answer. "Plus, we would have failed had it only been us two. Or even just you."

"Yes Nave, but my point is that we won! We can move on now; we can catch up to the others!"

"Honestly Nadlew, do you believe that that would be a good idea? You do not know how many more humans are out there. You do not even know if the others are alive right now. I can tell you now that there are more out there than there seems."

"We made it Mare; that is all that counts. We beat the humans without the Appointers by our side. It was our attack. Isn't that right?" Nadlew was beckoning to the other Sneasel that had kept quiet.

The Sneasel looked at him for a moment, unsure of what to say. Finally, he grimly stated, "I am just not sure what we are to tell the families of those 3 that had fallen."

That was not what Nadlew wanted to hear; he wanted to hear the cheer for the win. "He's right," Mare said. "We have to tell the families something. It was their heroic deed that caused their deaths. And they did not tell their families what they were going to do, so it would be a shocker to enter the main cavern to tell the families that we had gone to fight the humans, and come with a victory with losses."

Nadlew did not say anything. Instead, he hung his head as they all walked. "You two…come on we won…didn't we?"

"Not really; there are more humans out there," Mare answered. "When we leave here, we will all have to be alert to fight the humans if they appear."

And that was all Mare said. Nadlew did not try to counter. He just submitted what Mare had said, and said nothing afterwards. The more he thought about it, the more the realization hit. They were not done yet. Not by a long shot. The three entered the main cavern, ready to tell what had happened to the others. Or, at least Mare was.


	7. Four Island Isolation

I LOVED writing this chapter. Enjoy.

**Chapter 7: Four Island Isolation**

It was key for them all to survive. It was part of the Appointer's rules. Unfortunately, none of the Appointers were doing a very good job on that part. They were too busy helping those already in the clear that they did not manage to return to those that remained within the cavern. By now, all that had escaped could easily say that the others were gone.

It was a tragedy. It was a sad realization. That was all they could put it as. Now they were supposed to push the thought of many gone to the side and continue onwards, to live. It was all they could do. But there was still one question at hand; where would they go? The only way out of the island was by using the Runaway Machines; the watercrafts made by humans. Most had been destroyed along with everything else.

That question stuck with Irathie for a long moment. How was he supposed to lead the others off of the island? When that was the only choice for survival, how was it supposed to be accomplished?

It was a puzzle he would have to unravel later. For now, he needed to stay focused. He, along with the other Appointers led what remained of the colony down an open field, that seemed to get steeper as they walked onwards. There were stone remains of what were once buildings hidden in the landscape used for research. Of course, the Sneasels and the Appointers had no idea of what they actually were. They could all just guess that they were more human homes.

At the back of the line, Wendy walked. She did not go a straight line, and she did not look at where she was going. She just looked down. The ground seemed to get filthy with mud; all she had to do was look down and see where the footsteps in front of her led her.

The only good news that came from their long trek over the wastelands was the fact that there were no humans to try and fight them. Wendy was confused by this thought; just the night before, the humans never acted in this manner. There was nothing to lead them to do what she was seeing, actually. Not even Teresa told her anything that could have led to humans wanting them all dead.

Throughout the entire group, their minds were all focused on one question; why? Why would the humans attack? What purpose did they have? What reason would be great enough for suck an attack? What demonic creature in the back of their heads forced them to do such a thing? Why were they listening to that demonic creature?

It was either it mattered or it did not. The confusion was wide spread in thoughts, and each thought from each Sneasel was different. yet, their outcomes were the same. The humans were the ones that needed to be wiped out. If they found it right to destroy them, then they had all the right in the world to fight back, and protect. To show them how they liked what they were doing.

This was it; they had reached the end of the line. Before them all was the vast ocean. Beyond were the other islands. Those islands were unfortunately too far to swim to. Squinting to catch what lay on the nearest other island, Irathie found that it seemed to be as Four Island once was; lush with greenery and life. That, or he could be imagining it. His vision was not very picture perfect.

"What are we to do now?" One of the Sneasels wondered. It was a question that at the moment, was the million dollar one. Putting the facts up, there was really nothing they could do. They were pitted on a wasteland of their homeland with another species ready to tear their heads apart, with no chance of escape.

"How did the humans get here?" This question was from someone else. The voice was unfamiliar to the colony. They turned, gazing upon the outsider. It was indeed the outsider that had asked that questions. "When you find the answer to that, you have the answer to how we can get out. The humans—at least _those_ humans—did _not_ get here before the bomb. If they had, then they would have been dead. Just like the rest of us should be."

Irathie began to walk towards her. He stood a few feet away from her now, and said nothing until she turned away. "You are expecting us to go out the way the humans came in, yes?" Wendy nodded. "So, tell us; how is it that you manage to come upon us?"

"I was lucky enough to be alive," Wendy answered. "I don't know why the humans are doing this to us; I'm not part of that. This is as much as a surprise to me as it is to you."

"So I see. How do you expect us to do this; leave the way the humans entered?"

"I don't know; you're the leader, aren't you? Lead us."

No other words were said. The silence brought upon a strong wind; a nice change from all of the thickness. It was most likely the ocean that was bringing in the air, with the swishing waves. No; the waves were brought on by air. There was a breeze coming; that was what was bringing in the good air.

Irathie turned around, gazing afar to the ocean. Honestly, he had no clue on what to do next. There was no plan of action to fulfill; they had run from the humans, and that was as far as they were getting. Should they give in? Was it worth it? No, it was not. The humans had it clear that they were going to kill every life form.

"So where are you from? What's you name?" Irathie questioned.

She did not want to answer that, but knew that she had to. "My given name is Wendy. I was not born into a Colony. I was born to serve a trainer on her journey. I did well. But please, hear me out. I didn't see this coming; humans are _not_ normally like this. There was no reason I saw that would have turned the humans against us."

"Well then Wendy. What would be your best bet, if you had to guess, as of why they would do this to us? And not just to us; everyone on this island. We were at peace with the humans. Why would they do this to their own too?"

"The humans were leaving the island rapidly; surely you had to have seen that."

"Yes; and now we believe that they had planned this. but, there were a select few that did not get off of this island. Is that the truth? Tell me. Were there any other humans here, seconds before the bomb had gone off?"

"…Yes…there were a few."

"Shouldn't they of all species make for sure that their kind was not in complete danger from the _bomb_ as you say?"

"Listen; I know nothing of this. I woke up to find my trainer disappear, and watch this island go boom! I do not know what was going through the human thoughts. I don't believe that I ever will. Whatever it was, I had nothing to do with it, and I know nothing about it. To answer you're question, I would not have a best bet or guess on a thing. I'm not a human; I was just raised by one."

It did not take long for Irathie to take this as so. He turned around, facing the other Appointers. What were they to do now? It seemed to not matter anyway. Should they just scout the island a bit? Was there a way to survive this? Or would the humans win? What were they planning?

That's when one of the Appointers was going to submit to something. There was a shot that rang in the air, and in the next instant, that Appointer was down. He screeched in pain; there was a bullet that had pierced him just above the heart. It had blocked one of the arteries.

They all turned their directions behind them. Lined in a row where they had come from were humans. And since everything was a wasteland, there were more rows of them appearing in a half circle, cutting the Sneasels and Appointers to only having the spot they were on. The humans had caught up to them; and they were ready to kill. All fired at different times, aiming at the same place. They saw the entire group scramble, only for all of them to eventually meet the same fate.

But not by a long shot was Mare going to allow this to happen. There was no hiding spot he could take on, so he had to hope that he could camouflage himself with the ground. It was enough. He signaled Nadlew and a few others. They all were on one side; the left side. There, Mare jumped on the back of one of the men shooting, snapping the man's neck. The man was a bit farther than the rest; none had heard him fall because of the gunshots.

The others came from behind and either slashed or snapped the necks. It was the humans on the opposite sides that saw this happening, and as a response, aimed at their location. Others caught on, and ended the shooting at the center. There were still a few that kept on shooting in order to wipe out the group quickly.

Irathie and another Appointer quickly created an ice wall to block the bullets, but it was not blocking the bullets from all side. They were still in danger. Wendy crawled to the somewhat safety of the ice wall. The bullets never stopped. That was when she felt that she had enough of this. There were too many humans and they were all changing her entire thoughts upon their race. As the seconds ticked by, she just exploded from the inside.

Without saying a word, she did the one attack that she knew would never fail. Faint attack. And she soon disappeared in dark matter. Way back, there was a man aiming his rifle at Mare. His scope was mark on. All he had to do was press the trigger, and Mare would be dead. Wendy made quick work of him as she appeared from behind, knocking him out with an icy punch that froze his entire mask. The man had a hard time breathing, and began to panic. He pulled off the mask. When he turned around, Wendy punched again, this time without the ice effect, and knocked him out.

Once this act was done, the others saw how easy this was. They were dying, yet they were the ones that had the upper hand. What they had to do was fight back. And so that was what happened. Those that were still alive at the center began to disperse, running towards the nearest human. The humans kept on shooting, taking out Sneasels that ran, but they were no match once they were face to face with them. They began their full scale attack. The children stayed out of it; all of the adults were on an all out war against the humans, and they were not going to stop until they were all dead. Kind of like how the humans were doing to them.

Blow after blow, gunshots were fired. Some were met with ice at the barrel, which backfired the weapons. Others were beaten horribly. They fought until there were only a few remaining Sneasels left; most of the colony had been wiped out. And at long last, there were no remaining humans.

In what was a much too gory scene for the children, all that remained regrouped together. They could easily be counted. How many were there? About, 14 maybe? How many were dead? There were the dead scattered around the battlefield. It should not have come to this. the humans had forced this act upon themselves. And so, the Sneasels moved on. They did not plan to stay. They did not plan to take the little ones passed the battle fields either. They met up with the little ones only to lead them in the opposite direction. No one said a thing. They just hurried. There was only one Appointer left. Irathie.

None of the little ones questioned of the blood. Some wondered where their parents had gone; where the rest were. None would answer. Mare helped move them along. On the other end, Wendy wished only to forget everything that had just happened; that she had not taken part in an act that killed many humans, and many of her own kind.

The Sneasels kept their fast pace in walking. They had no general direction to go. All they knew was that they had to move faster; no telling where or when more humans would pop out to kill. Were the humans quickly becoming the new number 1 enemy? It seemed so. And it was all because of that one act that they had done; destroy Four Island.

They stopped, catching a glimpse of the distance. There were about 3 mega sized watercrafts made of iron out in the ocean. They had weapons too. The ship was quickly approaching.

"How many humans do you think are on that?" Nadlew wondered. None answered. They stared. So did the children. It only took a matter of seconds before the watercraft made a complete stop. There seemed to be a hatch opening from the side of the ship; from there, much smaller watercrafts were dispatched with at least 6 men in each.

"The children need to hide," said Irathie. On cue, one of the remaining mothers took a hold of them and began to lead them away from them. "Don't leave forever; we'll take them down. When they begin to turn around, then you know to come back and find whatever remains of us." He turned to face everyone else. "Is everyone ready for what we are about to do?" there was no sound from anyone. Just the look at the watercraft. They did not need to say a thing; their eyes told him that they were ready. "Let's move on out, and kill every single one of them."

* * *

The mini-boats with their tiny little motors were planted safely on the waters, and quickly, men were sent off. They had seen the other men disappear behind the cliff edge. They had not seen anything else, but they heard major gunshots. The radiation blocked all types of contacts. What they had to do was check and see if they were alright. They were sending all they had. Then, they were going to circle the island. Wherever their men were, they were going to find them.

The last boat to be laid on the water was nothing like the mini-boats. It was much bigger. It was exactly what the name was; a boat, long and wide enough to carry 33 men (but only held 12) with a bottom deck that held very little artillery at the moment, but was allowed to hold many, and one main control room for the driving at the top deck.

The ship hit the water, and began to rush forward towards land. That was all that the ship left; it and the other 2 giants beside it left in different directions to circle the island. The bigger of the small boats that were released slowly glided towards a good shallow spot, but not too shallow. The other smaller ones made it to the land, and began their search for life.

It was a bit dark. The boat holding the artillery did not catch Irathie slowly swim through the water, hiding right at the side of the boat. He pushed himself against the big thing. When he felt that he was in the clear, he began his climb up the side. He climbed over a windowed part. Inside, there was a man getting ammunition. He did not see Irathie's body slowly pull upwards. Finally, Mare reached the top, but did not fully pull himself over. There was a human leaning against the railing. Stealthily, he pulled himself up and grabbed at the man's neck, locking the air. The man choked for awhile, unable to breathe, and dropped his weapon. Irathie then pulled him overboard and to the water. Even though the splash was loud, none seemed to have heard this.

Irathie drowned the human. Then, he signaled for the rest to come. Slowly, the other Sneasels swam through the dark waters, trying their best not to make any noise at all. Once they reached Mare, they all began to climb. This time, none passed any of the windows of the bottom deck. Irathie was the first to jump on deck, and quickly rolled behind a set of boxes. There were a few humans on the other end that heard that, and turned. They found nothing. Only one was smart enough to come and look to see what made the noise.

When the man looked overboard, he saw the chain of Sneasels hanging. Before he could say anything, Irathie pounced on his back and kicked him overboard. When he landed on the water, the last Sneasel thrust his claw deep into his membrane.

That was too much noise; the others heard, and turned around. They found Irathie standing still. Of course, they did what they thought was right, and began to shoot at him. Irathie was prepared. He put his clawed hand in front of him and formed the black matter that was a faint attack. The bullets were absorbed into the attack, and behind the two that had shot, the black matter formed, and the bullets hit directly on their backs, dropping them to the ground.

Mare pulled himself up quickly and landed in a battle-ready stance. He jumped up and over the bottom deck door. It was just enough noise to have the only man down there come rushing up. When he had, Mare shot a built icicle into the man's shoulder. He fell on his knees in pain, and with this, Mare jumped down on top, striking at the man's spinal cord, and breaking it. In total, 5 were down.

The others climbed up too. Only the last few needed to board. Unfortunately, they had made a lot of noise, and the control room door opened. There was a man with the mask and all, a gun to his side. Somehow, Mare saw a shocked expression passed the man's mask. It struck him as funny.

Mare's grin did not last long; the man readied his weapon and began to shoot those that were on deck. The Sneasels began to hide began objects. 2 were killed right on. The third shot had to let go of the rail onto the boat, and dropped the last 3 that were climbing on the boat.

The man ran to the rail and readied a shot down at those Sneasels. One straight for Wendy. But in all of sudden rush, Nadlew managed to jump over most of the objects on the boat and slash at the man's torso. In agony, the man began to shoot aimlessly at the sky. That was the call that the men were in danger. And that caught the attention of many that were searching on land.

An ice beam from Irathie all over the man's body was enough to shut him up. The control room door opened again, and two more came out ready to hurt. The first thing they did was jump to the side and hide behind boxes. Mare felt that they had the upper hand here.

Slowly, the men made their way across the boat, both shooting at random. The Sneasels did not move; they waited for their clear hit. Unfortunately, they did not count on a third man to come out of the control room. Most were now in clear shot as to not get fired by those men moving about. The man took out 4 more Sneasels with an automatic.

It was at this moment that Wendy was finally able to pull herself onto the boat. She was wet all over, as was everyone else. She dripped of radiated seawater. And she was ready to hurt some people. She shot an ice beam directly at the weapon the man at the control room door was holding, and froze it.

Not too far off, the other humans on the land were getting back on their little rafts to get to the boat. The humans' reinforcements were on their way. The Sneasels had to work quickly.

Mare wasn't looking very well. He had his eyes on the man at the door. He did not see the other human ready the weapon at him. Fortunately, Nadlew punched him with a hard slash on the back, and the man bled in agony, running forward towards Mare. Mare was now alert, and sidestepped. When the man was right in front of him, he kicked him down to the bottom of the artillery deck.

One small boat finally made it to the ship, and began to climb the side to get on board. 6 other men were here. The one that had once stood by the door (and now stood behind a box due to the fact that his weapon was frozen solid) stood, a grenade in hand. He tossed it to the other side, knowing that the Sneasels were there.

Mare saw the grenade coming right at him. Before it hit him, he kicked it, and it went down to the artillery deck, where the man that was slashed at the back was barely getting up. Mare knew what that weapon did, and quickly, he turned the other way and fell to the floor. He heard the man's screams before the grenade went off. When it had, a large explosion and inferno blasted from the bottom deck doors. The windows on the side of the boat were blasted open, and the men climbing on board were knocked back into the water due to the deep heat intensity.

Irathie held his hand out to Mare once the fire lessened. Mare hooked on the clawed hand, and Irathie motioned for the control room. In a rush, the two ran straight for that room, and entered the door quickly as the last two humans still outside continuously tried to shoot at them. They were both cut down by Wendy and another Sneasel.

In the control room, there were only 2 more men. One steering the ship, and the other there ready with the gun at the door. When they entered, that gun fired. Irathie pulled Mare with him, dodging the bullets. The one driving the ship pushed the gun away, telling off the man shooting. It was a good call; all the equipment there was going to help them steer away. Mare didn't see why the man did that. He quickly froze the leg of the one that was driving and skidded across the floor, jumping, and snapped the neck of the man that had used the weapon. As he fell with the man, Irathie skidded too and kicked the driver's leg, dropping him. On the floor, both Mare and Irathie attacked.

They had done it; they had defeated all of the men on the ship! As much of a victory that was, they were not in the clear just yet. The reinforcements were crowding onto the right side of the boat. Fortunately, the ship was set to go full speed ahead. The boat moved forward ever so slowly, and would eventually pick up speed. The reinforcements weren't going to catch up; their motors weren't fast enough.

On the ship, the last remaining were Irathie, Mare, Wendy, Nadlew, and one last Sneasel. Mare stepped out of the control room. The reinforcements were far as they began to circle the island. "We took control of the human watercraft!" he shouted. It was just what Wendy, Nadlew, and the last Sneasel needed to hear. It was strange for this to happen, but they ended up cheering. They had their dead companions on board, and they were cheering because they had won the ship over.

Wendy was the first to come to this realization. She was the first to go grim within the cheers. She questioned what she was doing; why she was cheering. It was not a good thing; she knew that. So why was she cheering?

Irathie exited the control room. "Everyone, get your biggest ice beam you've ever concocted! We need to build a bridge!"

That was something really strange to come out of Irathie's mouth. He was pointing somewhere. The others all turned in the other direction, and saw what. It was the female Sneasel and the children running along the beaches, seeing the boat full of Sneasels, and trying to flag them down.

"Can't you just stop this thing?" Wendy wondered.

"I do not know a thing on human crafts; I wouldn't know how. Now; Ice!"

Without another wasted second, all of them lined up, and shot their ice beams across the water surface. The water became rough ice. It even froze around the boat, slowing it down a bit. The children and female Sneasel ran towards the boat as quickly as they could. Finally, they made it. The younglings had an easy climb; they were quite energetic on climbing the boat the last to board was the female. Wendy helped her on board.

"You did well," Wendy said.

The female smiled, but said nothing in return. The motors pushed harder, and unlatched themselves with the ice, and again, the ship began to go forward. They had done it; they were all on a human watercraft.

It would have all been good, but then there was one problem. There was something ahead of them. It was the big ship that was circling the island. And it was coming. "Who's controlling this ship?" Wendy asked.

"No one; no one knows how," Irathie answered. He noticed the ship, and began to fear now.

"Move!" Wendy shouted pushing through to the control room. Irathie followed after her, a questioning look on his face. "My trainer would sometimes gain access across large bodies of water by boat. Sometimes, the boats were very small. I was able to see how the turned; this should be easy." And it seemed easy. There was a large wheel. It looked slightly different than the ones she had seen when she was with Teresa, but they were close enough. She turned the wheel to the left. In cooperation, the boat began to turn. "We're going to make it," Wendy assured.

There indeed was enough space. The boat turned. The large metal stronghold of a ship slowly drifted passed them. If they were lucky, they wouldn't notice that the ship was…

Whoops; the ship was full of Sneasels. "Irathie! Tell the others to hide! NOW!"

Without question, Irathie ran to the door and opened it. "Everyone in this room!" No one ever questioned an Appointer. The Sneasels began to stock themselves into that one small room, away from sight of the large ship.

"Now…hopefully they won't notice that we aren't humans in here…"

They drifted passed the side of the ship. So far, nothing had happened. They all held their breaths, keeping in a good prayer and wishing that they were not discovered. Still, they got nothing from the ship. Slowly, the large craft fully passed them, and the Sneasels had gone by unnoticed.

There were sighs of relief's throughout the entire room. No one would have wanted to find out what would have happened had they been discovered. "We're safe for now…" Wendy said.

"That's…that is good news. Now, where should we go?"

"Right now, anywhere but here." She looked back at the remains of Four Island. "Say good bye to your home. I don't think any of you are going to see it for a long while."

"Wendy, how do you know how to use this craft?" Irathie asked.

"I don't; I'm just steering." She looked all around the room with the many buttons fixed in. "I wouldn't know how to use any of these."

"Wendy, you saved our lives. And you're an outsider. We owe you our debt for that," Irathie bowed.

Wendy didn't know how to respond to this. if course, she knew that it was a good thing. The best she could do was somehow reply with a thanks. But how? Was there some sort of special 'no problem' sign that would be within a colony? She wasn't so sure. So she did it the human way. "There was nothing to it." She then continued to steer the ship, not knowing where the next piece of land would be at.


	8. Water Strike

**Chapter 8: Water Strike**

Mare and Nadlew pulled the last human body to the back of the boat. There was a trap door open. Down there was where the trash, garbage, rubbish, etc. of nasty items went. They tossed the human down there, with the rest of the dead. It would begin to smell soon, but it was better than having them lie around on top of the boat. They were lucky that the ship did not catch the dead humans lying around. It was probably because their black clothing they were using and the similar dark color of the floor. It camouflaged them.

Just watching the humans piled where they were made Mare and Nadlew sick; they closed the trap door, sealing them in there for however long they were going to be on the boat. When they turned around, they only found two of the young ones running around the top deck. Most were at the control room. They were able to count the young ones; 8. It seemed like more when they were in the cavern. Unfortunately, that was because there _was_ more when they were in the cavern. They suffered…the fate of what humans passed on to the much older Sneasels.

"So what would you think might be the new plan?" Nadlew wondered.

"We don't have a plan; just move the farthest away from the humans as possible," Mare answered.

Nadlew accepted the answer and stepped over some of the spilled blood on the floor from what had remained of the dead Sneasels. As much as they hated it, they needed to get the dead ones away from the children. They did this by lining them up in the bottom burnt cabin. No one was allowed to go down there.

Mare walked into the control room. It seemed very crowded with everyone inside. Irathie seemed to be busy talking with the only other female besides Wendy. Wendy herself was driving the boat. Well…not as well as expected. She only steered. What made matters worse was the fact that she could not see what was in front of her. She had to rely on what the other male said that stood above a panel, watching the sea.

Over the time that they were together, they had all gotten to know each other better. The other female was Grik. The male that helped navigate was Larnlo. He said that he better preferred just Larne. They both introduced along with everyone else that did not know each other. They had the children do the same with each other, and present their names to the older Sneasels. It was not helping much; only Grik knew all of the younglings by name. The others would eventually learn them all.

The boat eventually began a swish and sway as they reached rougher waters. The two Sneasels that had been playing on deck returned, unable to keep their balance on top. Though, they were not having any better of a chance inside either. As a matter of fact, none had a good grip on any item during the swish and sway. They were not used to this; eventually, maybe, but as of the second, it was confusing. It only took one Sneasel to throw up for the entire group to begin to feel that feeling in their gut as they smelled the stench they would rather live without.

Being on the boat was a strange experience for them all. It took awhile before Wendy found out how to slow the boat down. That stopped the major swishing and swaying. That was most likely the reason. They were going too fast, which caused the boat to hurry over waves coming and going.

The rest of the drive over water was calm. Though, it began to feel very crowded in the control room. Most of the Sneasels left to see what was happening outside. It was not like they could see much in the distance; they seemed to have gone a bit far from any of the islands. The weather swayed from windy to calm every once in awhile. And then something that made matters worse; the thought that they would eventually lose gas (or whatever the boat ran on). Only Wendy knew that the boat had to be fueled by something. She told no one, hoping that she wouldn't have to, and that they would find land soon.

But land was not coming. They had been flowing through the waters for hours. They even got the chance to see the dark clouds make way to clear skies. It seemed that the smoky atmosphere was going to disappear now, and give way to daylight. It appeared to be some time nearing the evening based on what Wendy saw.

It took another hour for the others to all be outside of the control room. Except for one; the one that lead her through by telling her what was up ahead. That Sneasel had been alternating positions with the others. The new navigator happened to be Mare, staring out into the open sea.

He was quiet most of the time. Before he started his shift, he had told Wendy that he was not going to say anything unless she asked, or he saw something. Seemed reasonable enough, but got very annoying when he kept quiet. She knew that it was because he saw nothing, but she so badly wanted him to at least say that there was water ahead, the most unhelpful comment. With him there, she felt that she was driving blind.

"Mare," Wendy began, wanting to start some conversation if anything; "what did you do in your free time; back when you were with the colony?"

"I did an unsigned job; I watched over the cavern, only protecting."

That might have figured his quietness. She waited for him to say something else, but he did not. So she began again. "You know, when I was with my trainer, we—,"

"Took on battles of all kinds, collecting small shiny objects to add to a collection in either a box or your trainer's back pocket? It's the same with all that I see."

"Oh," Wendy said, kind of shocked at the sudden break in of her sentence. "Well, yes actually. But it was more than a battle I had to help gain these 'shiny objects' as you say. It was a bond of friendship we had. I did a similar job to what you did whenever I was not in my place; I protected my trainer from any thieves that would come by. The world of humans is strange; some humans go after each other, and more than once I found that they would chase after our kind, and many others for the wrong reasons. And these 'shiny objects' are actually called—,"

"I know what they are called; I just refuse to say the name. And I assume by when you say that you are not in 'your place,' you mean when you are not in your Pokéball."

"…Yes Mare; that's exactly what I mean," Wendy began to feel annoyed. Maybe the better idea would have been to just wait for him to spot something. That thought hadn't completely gone through her mind; she continued to speak. "But, I guess what I'm trying to say to you is that we're somewhat the same. I think."

"Did you just make that up?" Mare said it as a statement. He had his glare at her, and she had her glare at him. "The only similarity between us two, I'm sorry to say, is that we are of the same species. Otherwise, we are different in everyway. I have to ask you something; what do you think of the humans? Or, what _did_ you think of the humans? Before all of this happened; what were your honest thoughts on them?"

Wendy thought the question over in her mind, trying to find a way that he could possibly twist it around. She did not want to be talking about her opinions on humans; dramatically, they had been changed over the past few hours. "I thought of them as only helping to thrive our world, and needing us to help overcome difficulties. And I don't only mean physical difficulties; I mean emotional too."

"And do you know what I think of the humans? I thought they occupied space; they always have, and always will. But then again, I think of all other creatures the same way. As you can tell, I am not very much of what the humans would call a 'people person.'"

"Where did you get that from; that, 'people person?'"

"From watching the humans work. I am only mildly interested in their advancements. Now, I do not really care anymore. I just want them all off of what is _our_ land."

Even though Wendy did not know Mare beforehand, she could easily tell that the last few hours had changed him somehow. The hours had made him bitter to all that was in any way related to humans. She felt sorry for him. "Some of what is our land was prospered by the humans; it was tended to by them when nature could not fix it. It was most likely because of them that the entire plantation around your home was there. They were once the ones you could turn to, even though you spoke a completely different language. Did you know that?"

"You are wrong. I will admit that there are some that are the kind hearted you are trying to picture, but they are not all this way. There is a dangerous world out there that you are blocking out most likely because your trainer never spoke of that world."

"I know that that dangerous world exists. I've helped fight those humans out there; they are part of an organization known as Team Rocket. Have you ever heard of them?"

"I am not only speaking of a group here, Wendy, you aren't paying attention. I am speaking with the side of the human mind that is unhealthy."

"What part of the human mind is unhealthy?"

"The part that destroyed my home. You spoke of a Team Rocket, did you not? I know about them. I've seen in the Tee Vee's. They are the ones that have that large pattern on their uniforms, yes?"

"Those are letter 'R's. How do you know what the humans say by watching a TV? They speak a different language from you."

"I watch. But back to what I was saying; did you see any of them 'R's on the clothing of those that attacked our home? Did you?"

That's when Wendy had to submit what he was saying. It was true; she did not see much of their symbol on those that had destroyed Four Island. It seemed as if they were not part of that organization at all. Then…what were they? Why would they do that? "I am very sure that what happened at Four Island was an act of Team Rocket. I did not know about this attack that was going to happen. My trainer would have told me of this attack had it been anything other than Team Rocket. This was a surprise attack from Team Rocket; I'm sure of it."

"No; this was not a surprise attack from 'Team Rocket.' You may not have known about it, but the humans _did_. They had this all planned, and that was why the ones that were residence along side us here had left. That's why you trainer left you alone—," Mare did not get to finish that last part. As soon as he began the comment about Wendy's trainer, Wendy used the momentum of the wheel to thrust herself to him, where she brought a nice cold ice punch to his face.

They both went down, but once on the floor, Mare held onto Wendy's arm and pulled over her, pulling her arm behind her at a breaking point. She screamed at the pain, and immediately brought her foot to Mare's back, wobbling him for a moment. That was enough time for her move her body just a little and slash at his ankles.

The wheel was turning to the right sharply with no driver, and both Wendy and Mare kept on wrestling on the floor. Finally, Mare got his balance standing and thrust Wendy towards the back wall. She used faint attack to fall through it, and ended up outside where the others stood. She sensed that Mare was also going to use faint attack, and quickly kicked behind her. It was a lucky guess; she hit him as he appeared, and he crashed into a crate, breaking it. On his spot on the floor, he shot an ice beam at Wendy, locking her arm in ice with the wall.

He then pulled himself up and readied to crash into her. She ducked and thrust her sharp claws at his stomach, hitting directly, but far from digging deep into him. Mare pulled the arm up and forcefully pulled it back, trying to break the bone between her humerus and ulna. In return, she smashed her head into his. Hard. All the while, the others watched in confusion and wonder of who was currently driving the boat.

Irathie quickly entered to break the fight, pulling Mare back. When Mare punched back, Irathie ended it with an even harder punch at the jewel on Mare's chest, tossing him back to the broken crate.

"Mare! What is the meaning of this?" Irathie questioned.

"And what kind of a name is 'Mare' anyway?!" Wendy shouted. "I'd expect that from a Rapidash; not Sneasel!"

"Wendy," Irathie began.

"Yes Irathie?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, but—,"

"Go drive this boat."

"But—,"

"Please just go. I will come back in there in a second. Nadlew, be her eyes."

"Yes Appointer Irathie," Nadlew said, and with one glance at Mare, went into the control room. Wendy feeling defeated followed afterwards. That left all the other Sneasels out there, plus Irathie and Mare.

Irathie came closer to Mare, who seemed to have a shocked expression on his face for awhile. Irathie kept a serious expression. Mare knew this expression, and quickly shook his shock away. "Mare, what happened in there? I want to hear from you first."

In all honesty, Mare was not quite sure. He was speaking, and then from nowhere she seemed to attack him. Would that be the right way to say it to Irathie? Quickly, Mare searched through his memory on anything he could have said that could have led to her hitting him. But he found nothing, so he told Irathie what he saw had happened.

"I see," Irathie stated. "Are you hurt?" Mare shook his head and stood from his spot. He did not say anything; he just looked off into the sea. It was as if he had no other direction to look at, and was afraid to look upon the others. This further led Irathie to believe that something else had gone on in there. A fight did not happen for no reason. Figuring he was done with Mare, Irathie moved into the control room, ready to question what had happened from Wendy. Her answer was not very clear either. She just said that Mare had touched a part of her that was personal, and she wanted him to take it back. She did not want to tell of what happened to her trainer. Because she hadn't made it clear to Irathie on what the reason was, he still had no clue on how to solve this.

He sighed and figured that it was better to just separate the two. They were far too different; there was no chance that they could possibly get along. He left the control room, and for awhile, all was quiet.

* * *

The rest of the trip was basically the same as it was before. Minus the fighting. Mare was always staring over the rails behind the ship, trying to catch a glimpse of Four Island. But it was long gone by now; there was nothing to see. No one neared him the entire time, further isolating him in his mind.

He looked down at the water before him. It rushed by, slowly beginning to pick up speed. Most likely they had spotted some type of land and were rushing towards it. Mare did not really care at the moment; he just looked at the water rush by. It was being distorted by the ripples the boat made.

Slowly, the boat speed just a little faster. They must have really spotted something. He turned around. There were only a few outside. They probably had gone back into the control room. Mare stepped away from his spot and went to the other side, closer to the control room to see exactly what they were heading for. In the distance, there was nothing.

"Why are we going faster?" that was Vie. He was one of the younglings.

"I am not quite sure; I don't see anything," Mare answered.

And then, as an answer, the ship completely stopped to a halt. The halt was so strong that the back was lifted in a 40 degree angle into the air, tossing all on the boat forward. Mare and Vie ended up crashing into the control room door. Those that were in the control room smashed into the wall in front, while a Nadlew and one of the younglings hit hard enough to break through the window. just before they rolled off into the water, Nadlew held onto the end of the ship with one arm, and onto the scruff of the young female Sneasel, who began to scream and cry. Nadlew tossed her with a strong hand back onto the top of the boat once it was still and told her to go back to the control room. He pulled himself up and crawled back the same way the female had.

Once everyone had their balance again, the questions began; what had happened? Mare burst in through the door and immediately looked at Wendy, as if she was to blame. "What happened?" he asked sharply.

Irathie answered, "Relax Mare; we did not do anything. The boat pulled faster forward on its own. We aren't sure what made it happen, but obviously something made it stop."

"So what happened?"

"For crying out loud Mare, we don't know!" Wendy answered. "We're trying to figure that out here."

Mare rolled his eyes and turned away, leaving the doorway. He and vie were the only ones outside now. Soon, some of the rest began to exit the control room. Among them, Irathie appeared. "Has anything been destroyed?"

"Not that I know of," Mare answered.

The Sneasels that had gotten out began to look all around the ship, looking for any damage. The only damage that there seemed to be was the same damage that was on the boat when they had taken it. They were okay.

So then there was the big question; what was that all about? It very much confused them all. Unfortunately, they were to find out in just a few more seconds. The seconds ticked down to zero, and the boat rocked as a beast rose from the waters. It was a Gyarados; it's huge form jumped out of the water, jumping over the boat. It left a large shadow in it's jump, and landed on the water in the other side. It disappeared into the ocean. When it had landed, it forced a wave strong enough to slowly begin to tip the ship to it's side, slowly flipping over.

Mare pulled himself as fast as he could to the right side; the side that was turning to the sky. At the rails, he pulled himself up, and connected the boat to the water with an ice beam. It was enough for him to create a small ice block in the water to keep the boat in it's position, and in only a mere matter of seconds, the boat returned to it's natural position, swaying for a second.

"It's a Gyarados!" Nadlew pointed out the obvious. "What is it doing?!"

It only took Mare a few seconds to process it all in his mind. "It thinks we're humans. The humans probably did a similar thing to them that they had done to us; it thinks we're humans, and wants revenge…" Mare looked around the water. He knew that the Gyarados was not finished yet. Not by a long shot. "Tell Wendy to take the boat full speed ahead; we have to get out of here!"

But as he said that, the boat shook yet again. From the back, three large items were tossed into the air. They looked fairly heavy, and began to descend onto the Sneasels on the ship. "Run!" Irathie exclaimed.

The three objects hit on several parts of the ship, one hitting at the center, breaking onto the deck below that they had turned into a graveyard. They were the three propellers of the boat. The Gyarados had plans on bringing the boat down; it wasn't going to stop until the entire boat and its crew were underwater.

Alright, Mare thought. They wanted a fight. He had just about had enough with everything that had happened within the past few hours. He was severely pissed off. He did not care who he took out his anger on. He was ready to fight.


	9. Whirlpool

I noticed something. In the last chapter, I had a young female Sneasel. Somewhere in the chapters before, I mentioned that there was only two females, and they were both adults. If anyone can find it, please tell me so I can edit that. Enjoy.

**Chapter 9: Whirlpool**

Fists clenched, chest puffed, anger and rage in his blood; Mare slowly dissolved every emotion his body had hidden and turned it into the energy for a fight. He had his fighting stance ready, looking at the back of the boat. The others were getting the children into the control room. Nadlew stayed outside. Irathie helped take the children in, but then returned for the battle he knew that was coming. Larne held a grip on the ground, but picked himself up as soon as the ground was level. He too seemed ready to fight. It was all males.

Then Wendy escaped from the control room, and she too got ready for the fight. Mare looked at her for a moment, wondering what she was doing out there. Either way, he knew that she needed to be out there. She had literally trained to fight battles such as these. Plus, there was no point in trying to get the ship to move if it had no propellers.

The floorboards on the boat creaked. The Gyarados was under the boat somewhere. Not wanting to make noise, the group slowly dispersed to all sides around the boat, making sure that they checked and made sure that it made no surprise attacks upon them. On Irathie's side, there was something that Irathie himself wished he did not see. Off in the distance, more Gyarados were coming, jumping over the seas and into the water yet again. There seemed to be two heading their way, besides the one that was already there.

On Wendy's side, she saw another two pair of Gyarados. She turned to inform Irathie, and then caught the glimpse of the other Gyarados. Irathie had caught the other two that Wendy had seen. "I think they planned this," Wendy quietly stated. It was quite obvious.

There was a tension between everyone. Maybe the five could have been able to fight off the _one_ Gyarados that was there, but they were incapable of fighting off an equal number to them. It would be impossible.

As quickly and stealthily as possible, Mare jumped onto one of the heavily wedged iron propellers on the ship. He looked left, and then he looked right, as if not wanting to admit that there were five of them. And then, he assumed a thinking position. He had to hurry; by now the Gyarados were way too close. And then, at the closest range possible, they all stopped, a few meters away from the boat. Slowly, they began to circle it.

The others weren't catching on with what they were doing just yet. Some of the Gyarados slowly glided over the water, but kept their constant circle. And the circling became faster and faster. All of a sudden, it all clicked together in Mare's mind. They were making a whirlpool for them. They planned on burying them, not attacking them.

"Wendy, you have to get this boat out of here," Mare stated quickly.

"What?"

"They are going to drown us! We have to get this thing out of here now."

"But—we can't—,"

"Mare's right," Irathie cut in. "If we want to live, we have to move this boat out of the Gyarados attack zone. We have to hurry before it's too late."

The boat began to shift positions, spinning one full circle slowly, then sliding around the outer rim. Slowly, the waters began to become a whirlpool fashion, swishing and swaying. The center lowered its levels as water rapidly began to speed up. The Gyarados began to jump at different times near the outer rim, controlling the water and making sure that the boat did not have an escape.

The boat let the water take it. It was becoming hard to stand as an all new g-force was pulling against them. "We have to get into the control room; now!" Mare shouted. The waters became rougher, and it was getting harder and harder to control their movements. Slowly, they all made their way back to the control room. Mare held the door and made sure that everyone got in. once they were all in, he closed it behind him and locked it.

Inside the room was no easier to stand than it was outside, and because of the two broken windows, the force of the water was still strongly heard. The younglings were clearly spooked on the whole situation.

Making a hasty decision, Mare made his way to the end of the control room. There was a trap door on the floor. With all his might, pulling against the new g-force, he opened the trap door. "Get the young ones inside; it may just be the safest place at the moment."

"Mare, are you nuts?!" Wendy exclaimed. "If we go down, they'd probably—,"

"DUCK!" Irathie exclaimed. It was at that moment, that the entire boat shook, pushing everyone to the floor. All of the remaining windows busted open. But the strangest part was that once it was over, the entire room was still. There was no g-force pulling anymore, but the room was still slanted to the side a bit. Outside, there was still the sound of the swirling whirlpool. The only difference now was that they were still. They had stopped.

Mare was the first to stand, looking around the room. All the others were still on the floor, unsure of what had just happened. Irathie must have been pretty sure, considering he pointed it out before it had happened. On instinct, Mare jumped towards the windows, and slid out, being careful on where he stood. He couldn't believe what he saw.

The whirlpool was becoming dangerously steep, and the water seemed to be rising over them as it whirled. Every once in awhile, a Gyarados would jump out of one side to jump to the other and keep the whirlpool spinning fast. What kept the boat still was the fact that it was wedged between an underwater rock, shaped like a fork. It held the boat in place. The whirlpool became wider, and as it id, the rock became more noticeable. They were no longer riding on the water; they were stuck on an underwater rock.

But then that had to mean that the boat was dragged under the sea as the whirlpool widened. The whirlpool was not getting higher; they were sinking deeper into it.

Mare did not have enough time to think of the situation; without his knowing, a Gyarados intentionally smashed right into the rock, then pushed itself back into the whirlpool to continue the spinning. That was enough to loosen the boat; it began to lean backwards. Mare lost his grip, and fell right back into the control room. Everyone ended up hitting the wall as the ship fell backwards. At what seemed to be a perfect 90 degrees of an angle, the ship began to freefall. There were screams all over the room.

Then the ship stopped again. The water was yet again still rushing around them, but they were not rushing with the water. They could see the spike of the rock above them, through the front window. The boat stayed at its 90 degree angle, facing upwards.

In pain, Mare slowly stood, trying to catch what had exactly happened. Unfortunately, the only way to get a clear picture would be to step on out of the boat. That proved to be risky the first time he had done it. Unfortunately, curiosity hit, and he pushed himself to climb towards the windows, stand out with the air swishing and swaying in all directions. Apparently, the ship had somehow managed to wedge itself onto the side of the rock. The rock had saved them for a second time.

Mare slowly pulled himself to the edge that was nearest the center of the whirlpool. He looked over the window. From where he was standing, he could see that they were right at the tight circle of the whirlpool. It seemed to go on forever down in the middle, but faintly, Mare could make out the ground floor. It had made a perfect connection all the way to the bottom.

And at the very bottom, a Gyarados was clear in sight. Slowly, it pushed itself up the spinning whirlpool like a worm would up a hole. Something was telling Mare that the Gyarados was just about ready to eat the entire boat, no matter what the contents were. Or, it just planned on breaking it to pieces. The second seemed more likely. Now that Mare got that clear with himself, he got angry. It was not fair to him that they had the advantage just because they were in the water. Worse, they were attacking the wrong enemy!

As what was in his mind when he first found that the Gyarados had wrecked their boat; if they wanted a fight, then they were going to get one. These Gyarados had just pushed him off the edge.

Mare jumped back into the control room. He went back to where the trap door was, and opened it. "Get the young ones in here. I've got a plan." No one did anything. "Get them in here!" Slowly, the kids came to him one by one, and they stepped into the trap door. Everything was tossed around; it seemed very unsafe with all the equipment. Mare jumped in after them and quickly froze every piece that could do harm in their positions. "I'll be right back," he said. He stepped out, and closed the trap door.

"Mare, what are you thinking?" Irathie wondered.

"I am thinking that just maybe, the Gyarados got the wrong enemy. I am going to straighten that out."

"How?"

"By making us a threat."

That was all he said. He jumped right to the control room door and heaved it open. It would be unsafe to just walk out there; he couldn't even walk on the floorboards. He hung himself on the door, holding on tight, and staring at the massiveness of the swirling waters. With a heavy jump, he pushed himself to the life ring connected on the wall that acted as a ceiling now. He held onto it, then pulled himself over to a rope, slowly sliding through it, and hanging on. He looked down. He could see beyond that the Gyarados was near the ship. A few more jumps and it would be able to take a large chunk of it down.

Mare let go, falling. He landed right on top of one of the propellers. There, he waited, looking down at the Gyarados. He smiled, then walked to what was once the floorboards. With all his might, he pushed against it, with the propeller right behind him. It was going to take a lot more strength. He pushed harder, straining. And finally, it loosened, and began to fall. Mare held on to the large propellers and fell with it. He rode the propeller as it went down, off of the ship, and towards the center of the whirlpool. Not once did it touch the water.

As he neared the water, he used ice beam with both hands, freezing the water all around. And then the propeller hit directly at the Gyarados's large open mouth, blood squirting as it hit. Mare continued his ice beam to freeze its entire mouth. Then, he pushed himself back, freezing the rest of it, making it a pipe of sorts. The Gyarados jumped once more, and Mare jumped on the Gyarados. With the strongest strength he could muster, he pushed himself off of the Gyarados. It was great timing. All of the ice around the Gyarados busted with the water rushing through. The water buried the Gyarados, forcing the propeller to shift in uncomfortable places, meaning once fully buried, the Gyarados would most likely end up dead. What made it even better timing was that as he jumped, it just so happened that another Gyarados controlling the whirling pool jumped from its position to go to the other side. Mare thrust his claws deep into the Gyarados, and injected it with his own taste of ice beam, freezing all of the inner organs. Just as the Gyarados hit the water to disappear and lie dead moments later, Mare jumped off, ready to hit the swirling water. He aimed another ice beam, and made an ice path as he slid across the whirlpool. And at the right time, he jumped, reaching into the air.

In the most amazing amount of luck most likely ever to be recorded, Mare grabbed onto the end point of the boat's back rails. He hung there for a moment, pain surging throughout his body from the stunt he had just pulled. Forcefully, he pulled himself up. The whirlpool stumbled as all of the middle section began to fill with water again. Mare had just made the entire place uneven; now it was all collapsing. The water hit the underside of the boat, and began to pull it upwards.

All inside the control room were left in awe. The boat was shaking like crazy, making it hard to stand. Irathie managed to grab a hold of the wheel, and while on it, tried to control the direction, clearly not knowing what he was doing. There was no point; with no propellers, the boat was not going to turn anywhere.

Mare pulled himself up by the rails against the ship, no matter how rocky and rough the water was making it. He made it to the swinging control room door, and went right in, shutting it and trying his best to lock. On the fifth try, he managed to do so. He looked around the room, finding everyone falling over each other.

Finally, in a last attempt to destroy the boat, one of the last 3 Gyarados crashed into it, snapping the back half right off. The back was buried under pounds of water as the front half continued its swirl to the surface.

It wasn't fast enough; the water enveloped over it, devouring the front half in water. The water entered the control room, filling it. Though, because of the large amount of air still within the ship, it was pulled all the way up to the surface. Half of the first half of the ship was out of the water. And it stayed that way as the waters became calmer.

For long minutes, no one moved, scared. As if the Gyarados were going to fight them again. But nothing happened. Wendy opened the trap door, and the younglings came pouring out, tears and screams ensuing. But there was no other sound. No more of the major whirlpool noise.

Mare climbed out of the window of the control room. It was slowly sinking. He looked around, trying to find any traces of the Gyarados. And there they were; all of the three remaining. Mare huffed and puffed, out of breath. It showed that he was beat, but he was not planning on giving up if he still had to fight.

But the Gyarados did nothing. So, in response to the nothing, he yelled it out to them; "We are not humans! We are _Pokémon_! Like you!"

None of the Gyarados responded to his scream. The other Sneasels began to leave the sinking ship through the front window, standing on the piece that was not in the water. Yet. They all stood up there; all of the Sneasels, plus the Weavile.

After the long silence, the Gyarados all went back into the waters, making sure not to damage any more of the ship. They were now nowhere in sight. All of them stood up there, doing nothing. They were left stranded. Now, all they had left was to wait until they drowned.

But hope was not lost; the ship began to move in the water again. And the back began to rise out of the water. Then the rest of the boat. It was all rising out of the water. It being very hard to keep their balance up there, they all made their way back to the control room. The ship was moving. Slowly, Mare inched towards the locked door which once led to the outside of the ship. He sighed, and then opened it. Out there, he saw the back of a Gyarados. They were taking them somewhere.

"They're helping us out?" wondered Nadlew.

"How's that possible?" Wendy too questioned.

There was a little uproar of questions within the entire control room. But it did not matter. The fact was that they were being saved by something that was about to destroy them. Wherever they were being taken, they had to be grateful for that.

Mare, feeling completely beaten by what he had just done to save their lives, went straight to a corner, and collapsed on the floor. He was knocked out.


	10. The Capture

**Chapter 10: The Capture**

Mare only awoke once during the entire travel over the seas. Wendy kept her eyes on him; she knew for sure. There was only one particular thing that kept her interested in Mare; it was his courage and no sense of fear. She has only heard of one case in which this happens to Pokémon; it happened in Orre. What supposedly happened was that the Pokémon became what humans would often call Shadow Pokémon.

Was it possible that somehow, Mare was a Shadow Pokémon? He surely qualified. The only personality he'd be missing is the fact that he does _not_ favor the humans. He does not work with or for the humans either. So what did this make him? Could he actually be considered…a true hero?

It had only been minutes before when he had last woken up. Wendy neared, sitting down next to the Sneasel. He breathed normally and appeared to have neither shock nor scars of the past battles. She pricked at one small part of the fur on his arm. She felt it very wet, and quickly assumed it was water. But when she stopped her stroke on the arm, she found that it was a dark red shade. Of course; blood.

He was normal in every way. He just did not act like he was.

Wendy took a look around the room. It seemed very crowded with everyone piled in that room, but there was really no other room to go other than that trap door under the control room. The faces upon many of the Sneasels were unsure of what to either believe or do.

She stood and walked straight to the door that once led to the back of the boat. She opened it to find the back of the Gyarados as it slowly at a comfortable pace swam over the waters. Beyond, there was a vast emptiness. She wondered where they would have ended up had they not been attacked by the Gyarados; would they have been trapped on the sea forever? Or would the humans find them? Maybe they could have even found land on their own…

She closed the door, locking it. other than looking outside the door, there was not much to do. She was glad that the children had something to do, playing along with each other. As for the rest, there was nothing much else to do but hope that they would reach land soon.

It was as Wendy thought this that the boat seemed to shift a bit. She felt that it began to hit the water again, and it slowed onto a small drift over the water. Then, it came to a complete and sudden halt. The shock of the movement awoke Mare, and fully awakened those that were about to drift to sleep.

"Have we landed?" Mare wondered.

No one answered. Wendy was going to be the first to find out. She jumped out of the front window and onto the front of the ship, looking about. They hadn't so much as landed; there was a large docking barge in front of her. Slowly, the ship began to sink. "We kind of landed…come on." She jumped off of the boat and to the dock, looking around. They were the only ones there; there were no other boats.

Slowly, the others followed. The last person off the boat was Irathie. Seconds afterwards, the boat completely sank underneath the water. In the distance, the Gyarados were swimming off. They jumped over the ocean and back in at different turns. It was too bad that the group had not been able to say good-bye to the Gyarados. Or, at least it was to Wendy. She was not so sure how any one else thought about the situation.

As soon as they were out of sight, the group was on the move again. They walked off of the docking area and onto the beach. It all seemed so empty. The quietness was not helping either. It just left them scratching their heads and wondering what had happened. What they _could_ rule out was a nuclear bomb. There were still green trees alive, and the air felt clean. Something else had to have happened.

"Alright, everyone must follow me," said Irathie. "Stay close and stay alert. We do not know what has happened here yet."

There were no arguments. Everyone stayed with each other and kept their eyes out for any humans. They were scared more of them than other Pokémon. If they found other Pokémon, then they felt that they would be blessed.

One thing that they did not do was go deeper into the land. They stayed at the beach and went down one path. One thing they noticed upon this path was the fact that there were no human ships or boats anywhere in the docks. On their walk, they finally reached a point where the docks ended, and onwards was an endless beach. They froze for only a moment.

Since Irathie did not lead, Mare took it upon himself to go onwards. He stepped in front of all, and made the risky decision to continue walking. He felt the sense that there was a trap coming up ahead. They all felt it. That was what was worrying them.

"There does not seem to be anything wrong. Everyone should stay behind me," said Mare.

No one said anything. They kept a distance from each other. If there were to be anything to act as a trap, then they would be able to counter it. They would not all fall for it. If one of them were to fall for it, then the nearest would be able to help.

As they walked farther down the beach, the feeling that they were not safe grew even stronger. Irathie began to ready himself in an attack stance, making sure that his claws were out and sharp. When the others saw this, they too had their claws sharpened. And then the sense was far too immense; they had to stop.

"Does anyone feel it?" Mare asked.

It was obvious of what he was talking about. They felt the vibrations on the sand. There was definitely something coming. They even heard it in the distance. It sounded quite strange, but it was heard. Mare could not tell what exactly the noise was.

And then, as the ground vibrated for a fifth time in a row, he realized what it was. He turned around quickly, and shouted to the others, "They're under the ground!" As he had said this, a Sandslash had pushed itself out of the sand from behind him, ready to slash. Irathie shot an ice beam as quickly as he could, hitting directly at the attacking Pokémon.

And then all around them, Sandslashes and Sandshrews jumped out of the ground. The Sandshrews easily gripped the younglings, bringing then down in a lock, trying to choke them. The adults used their faint attacks to be able to quickly attack the ones attacking the young ones, in an attempt to free them. But more and more seemed to be rising from the ground.

Just as Mare was running towards a child being attacked, a Sandslash popped out of the ground in front of him. The sand blew everywhere, blocking his sight. He raised his claws in front of him to block. It was a good move; the Sandslash sliced on Mare's claw, and in a blind furry, the two fought claw and claw.

Nadlew jumped just as a Sandslash was coming out of the ground, kicking with a sharp clawed foot at the head, and pushing against it, twisting in the air, and tackle the Sandshrew that had one of the children to the ground. He struggled, trying to hold the Sandshrew in place, but then more rose from the ground, pulling him away and scratching away. A Sandslash appeared from the ground in front of him and pulled Nadlew under the sand.

Irathie kept his claws filled with ice as he attacked every Sandslash and Sandshrew that came near him. This proved not to work very well as when he was busy pummeling a Sandshrew, a Sandslash locked him in a chokehold from behind, only tightening its grip. As the Sandslash tightened its grip, it screamed in pain. At the legs, Nadlew had managed to crawl out of the sand and slash at the Pokémon. The Sandslash that had dragged him under rose from under the sand again and began to pull. Right behind him, Wendy aimed at the head, and shot a needle like ice beam through the skull.

She helped Nadlew out of the sand. Unfortunately, a Sandslash had gotten to her just as she pulled, and slashed at her back. The Sandslash's claw went deep into her back, and Wendy screamed in pain. The Sandslash covered her mouth and brought her back down into the sand, underneath. Nadlew tried to fight for her, but he was still somewhat stuck with his legs in the sand.

The fighting got rougher; the children were getting hurt! And they were one of the first to be pulled underneath the sand. As the fights continued, the others were dragged into the sand too. They were all being dragged under. It was up until there were only three left; Mare, Larne, and Irathie. And by then, their battle scars were visible; blood soaked their claws and teeth and fur as they continued their endless battle. And as their battle went on, there seemed to be no end to where the Sandslashes and Sandshrews were coming from.

A Sandshrew jumped on Mare, bringing him down to the ground. Within the next 2 seconds, Irathie picked up the Sandshrew and tossed it to the back of the one that he was currently fighting, causing the death of the critter. In response, the Sandslash turned and jumped for Irathie. He side-stepped, and it instead landed on Larne. It was better than nothing; the Sandslash began to drag Larne under, not caring about his struggle to stay above ground.

Mare jumped for Larne, reaching out with a claw. Instead of connecting claws, he only connected with the sand. Larne was gone, taken under.

Knowing the situation quickly, Mare stood up, looking all over the sand. He was looking right in front of him when the Sandslash popped out of the ground, forcing Mare to fall to the ground behind him. The Sandslash jumped for him, and caught onto one of Mare's feet as he tried to crawl away. Using his other foot, Mare hit three times at the Sandslash's head. The third time, he managed to pierce his right eye. The Sandslash let go, standing, and struggled a bit to walk. Irathie appeared in front of the blind Sandslash and hit with an uppercut. It was a lethal blow.

Still on the ground, Mare fired a clear shot of ice beam. It was heading straight for Irathie, but missed by a centimeter. It froze the Sandshrew that was about to strike Irathie completely. It landed as a frozen cube on the floor.

"Come on!" Irathie shouted, running. He pulled Mare to his feet. "We have to run!"

And so, the both did. On all sides, the Sandslashes and Sandshrews jumped out of and into the sand as if it were their ocean. They made it look so simple. Whichever got closer, they would hit with either an ice beam or a clawed attack. As they ran, there was a Sandslash that had appeared from the ground in front of them. Both Mare and Irathie did not stop; they ran, clawed fist ready, and hit directly at the face. They passed the Sandslash as it collapsed on the floor.

It would never last; a Sandslash appeared just enough out of the sand to snatch Mare's leg. He tripped, and as he had, Irathie tripped over Mare's arm. Instead of Irathie landing on the sand, he landed on the open arms of a Sandslash, and it pulled him under very quickly.

"Appointer Irathie!" Mare yelled. "No, no, no, NO!"

The Sandslash that had snatched him began to pull Mare under the sand. He struggled, trying to hold on to anything as his lower body was pulled under. Then, he shot an ice beam all around where he was being taken under. It created a concrete wall to keep him from being dragged. With force, the Sandslash pulled. It stopped, and appeared out of the sand. That was enough time for Mare to send a sharp hand made icicle slice through its throat.

Mare pulled out of the sand. Just as he stood, three Sandslashes, all from opposite sides, jumped at him, and made a good tackle, pulling him to the ground. Mare kicked and thrashed. He was able to break loose from one Sandslash, and slashed like crazy on the other two. He was free. He quickly pulled himself together and ran off, trying not to look back.

But the Sandslashes and Sandshrews were not going to give up. At a good distance, Mare made a complete halt. He took a complete breath of air, and then turned, running back towards the Sandslashes. He was running directly into one of them. A few feet away from it, he jumped, ready to kick it. The Sandslash was ready to grab at him and pull him under. What the Sandslash did not expect was for Mare to use faint attack, and fade through it, and kick the Sandslash behind it. By now, that Sandslash was turning to try and grab again, but the distance was too short. Mare had already turned in the air, and his clawed foot kicked at the Sandslash in the face.

Mare landed on his chest, pain ringing all over his body. In the corner of his view, he saw the other Sandslash looking, stunned for a moment. Then, it pounced for Mare. Mare pushed himself off the ground, and began trying to crawl away. The Sandslash easily caught up. Now, it was just trying to get a good grip on Mare. But Mare would not allow that to happen, and he crawled and crawled, trying to get out of reach of the Pokémon.

The Sandslash brought its claw down, wanting to thrust it through Mare. Fortunately, Mare kept squirming and trying to get out of reach. And although it was now seeming to be impossible, the Sandslash got a good grip on Mare's torso. He smiled. then, he dug under, bringing the thrashing Mare down with him.

And then the beach was empty.


	11. Unheard Mind

**Chapter 11: Unheard Mind**

The room was dark, almost no light at all. It was the large type of room. Due to its vastness, it was hard for the Sneasels to move about it. There was noise from the ceiling, and the second later, yet another hole formed, and Irathie burst through, landing hard on the floor and spewing sand. None of them had expected this to happen. If it were to happen at all, then it would have been more likely that the humans would plan it.

"Irathie, are you okay?" Nadlew wondered, helping the Weavile up. But the Weavile did not stand completely. He sat up, and that was it. He cleared his head and shook away most of the sand that clung to him. He then faced Nadlew, curious eyes. He moved him away and stood. Slowly, he trudged away from his spot and to a wall. The others followed with him. But Irathie did nothing; he dropped himself against the wall, defeated.

So the group decided to return to what was more important; the injured.

Nadlew returned to attending Wendy. She was bleeding, and did not look like she was going to survive through the day. Slowly, he waved his claw in front of her, asking her if she could see it. But she did not respond. It was mostly because she still had blurry vision. Eventually, she fainted. She was not dead; Nadlew could see her breathing. He could do nothing more to keep her awake; it was time to move to the next Sneasel.

There was a noise in the high ceiling again. Some of the dirt began to fall as yet another hole was being formed. They knew who it was; the only Sneasel that was _not_ there already. Mare.

What was strange in this drop, was the fact that the hole was complete, and Mare almost dropped to the floor. But he had not. He clung until something in the hole. In one hard pull, Mare fell to the floor with company; a Sandslash. The two landed on the floor hard. The second the Sandslash had hit the floor, he began to get ready to run. Mare grabbed onto the Sandslash's leg before it could get out of reach, tripping it.

He pulled at the legs, and managed to bring himself face to face with the Sandslash; him on top of it. The Sandslash punched at Mare, pushing him off easily, then turned back to the wall. He jumped to it, clinging on, and began to climb. Mare shot an ice beam just in front of it, and froze the entire wall that it was scaling, and in a cry in its own language, the Sandslash slid for a bit, then fell back to the floor.

"Get him!" Mare yelled as hard as he could. It was clear that he was too weak to chase after the Sandslash.

Nadlew was the first to respond. The Sandslash was had barely begun to stand when it faced forward to find a knee come and hit it hard, forcing it to crash onto the newly made ice wall. Larne, Irathie, Grik, and three of the older younglings circled the Sandslash. And at the same time, they all shot the most powerful ice beam that they could muster.

By the end of it all, only the Sandslash's head was not ice. They could all see it struggle, trying its best to break away from the grip of the ice. It began to say something, and continuously spoke in its language. That was the problem; none knew the Sandshrew or Sandslash language, so all they heard were pitiful attempts to try and break free, and to as much as they could guess, cuss it out.

"Great…" said Mare. He smiled for a bit, but struggled to keep it. He held onto his shoulder; there was a major pain coming from there. It was probably when he was taking underground. It felt very uncomfortable to travel that way, and it did not help when he landed in belly flop fashion at the bottom of hard sand filled ground.

All they had to do now, was wait.

* * *

Minute after minute ticked by. None kept count. Whatever the Sandslash and Sandshrew wanted, they did not want it enough to try and take back their comrade. The Sandslash that they had captured was still to the wall, and looked very sick and in a frozen frenzy. The others did not blame it; it was not meant for that type of weather. But they were not going to let it go either; they needed it as a hostage. 

Overall, it seemed to have been an entire hour of nothing. One of the younglings was close to claustrophobia in there and was panicking and crying while Grik tried to comfort her. All the while, the others waited. They were waiting for the question to be answered. The question was; what did they want?

It only took a little while until they realized that the Sandslash that they had captured was speaking. They did not know the language, but it was speaking. Nadlew was the first to realize this. He did not tell the others; instead, he walked right up to the Sandslash. Even right in front of its face, the Sandslash did not stop.

"Hey," Nadlew said roughly. The Sandslash looked at him quickly, shutting up. It seemed to try and keep its mouth shut now, and the coldness it felt was visible. It was shaking. For a second, Nadlew thought that he saw a tear on its eyes. "This was your fault," Nadlew said, not caring for the creature at all. "What made it right to attack us, huh? What made you think that you should round us up the way you did? Was there a reason for this?" The Sandslash did not answer. Nadlew closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, his words could not sound any colder than they did as they rode up the Sandslash's face when spoken. "As of now, you and your gang are no different than the humans."

It may have not known the language, but it understood the tone. That was what Nadlew wanted to get across the moment, and once he saw that the Sandslash did not answer back, he turned his back to it.

But then it _did_ answer back. In its own language, it spoke out to Nadlew. Or, that was what Nadlew figured when he turned around. He was not sure if what the Sandslash was saying was some sort of insult towards him, or something much more. What more can it possibly get to if what the Sandslash was saying wasn't much of towards the Sneasels in the room, but of the life forms that began to dig nearer and nearer to the center of the room?

"What are you trying to say?" Nadlew asked. The Sandslash's response seemed to have been questioningly by the reaction he read. It appeared to have said something along the line of "What?"

Of course; it was not going to know their language. Without this key element of communication, there was nothing neither Nadlew nor the Sandslash could do to press for answers. Seeing this, Nadlew turned his back yet again to the Sandslash, and walked away. He did not turn back when he heard the Sandslash continue to speak.

He sat down at the end, near no one else. The nearest would have had to have been Mare, who pulled himself towards Wendy. Grik was already at her side.

Mare told himself in his mind that he was going to check on everyone. He had to see who was harmed and who was not. It began to become a repeat of what happened on the caverns in Four Island. Pushing the past out of his mind, he crawled up next to the unconscious form of Wendy, and stroked her arm.

"What happened to her?" He wondered.

"She was attacked from behind; I think she is losing a lot of blood," Grik answered. "Mare, if this continues…I do not think that she will make it. The slash done to her is too wide; I would not think that anyone would be able to last long with it."

"She can; I'm sure of it," Mare answered. "I am going to check on the others now."

Mare only began to take a couple of steps towards Irathie, when he was stopped by Grik. He turned, confused. She shook her head. "You should not be doing this. You are in major pain. If anything, you should be the one that cannot move, yet you still breathe. It is a miracle. You moving about here is not going to help that Miracle."

Mare simply answered, "Someone has to do the job."

"Not you; you did everything else. I do not know how long we will be here, but you should fall to sleep now. It has been too long and you need the rest." She really hoped that Mare would listen to her advice; she could read the amount of damage to him like a book, but could not see it anywhere in his mind. It was like he was indestructible.

"I should, shouldn't I?" Mare wondered. He said nothing more, thinking it over in his mind.

Grik neared Mare, as much as she could over Wendy. She looked at him straight in the eyes, and said, "Nothing would make me happier."

Mare laughed at this. It was not a bad laughter, as in one that would show that he did not care for the care Grik was giving him. It was the kind that tried to reassure Grik. "Do you know what would make _me_ happier?" He waited for her to ask why, but she did not. The wait was over, and he continued. "Being the one that made sure we all made it out alive."

Grik smiled. In her mind, she could not believe how stubborn Mare was to save the day. He acted like a child would. She was not sure if she should try and stop him or not; to her, Mare was his own separate animal. She had nothing more to say. Figuring it was time to wrap up the talk, she said, "I've never seen you smile a lot before. You should try it some more; others will not think that the world is coming to an end."

Mare's smile diminished to only a grin, and a small one at that. "If I were to stay with a smile for so long, believe me, the world _will_ come to an end."

"Mare, go to sleep." That was all she said to him; Mare easily complied by turning the other way, still lying on the floor, and finally submitting to a rest. He needed it; the boat's rest was not enough for him. Submitting to the rest was perfect; Mare could not have imagined any other better feeling than this.

But deep in his subconscious, there was a little voice that told him that what he was doing was a bad move, and he would soon regret the small nap. Mare only heard a small portion of the plea. He was always the kind that would follow his own instinct, and sometimes blend instincts with orders.

His instinct was to stay awake. His order was to fall asleep.

He got his claws ready to slash, if the time came. He tried his best to have a comfortable position, and stay ready for any type of attack that may come. He could feel it…it was coming. How long, he was not sure. He just knew that it was coming.

* * *

The Sandslash kept his gaze up at the ceiling. The coldness had numbed out every ounce of energy he once had to fight back. If he were to be freed at that moment, he would collapse on the spot, and be unable to move for several hours. Over the last hour, he had come from wanting and knowing with confidence to beat and kill the Sneasels, to fearing them. They had already destroyed every other part of his body by freezing him. It appeared to him as if only his mind was active. 

He could hear it. They were digging. They were going to help. But would they be able to help him? Would they be able to come and pick him up, saving him from any harm that the Sneasels could plan? He was pretty sure that the Sneasels had more plans against him. He was a hostage. They were going to use him. he already submitted to that. At the moment, he needed a hero. But who would come? Who will be the hero to step into a group of vicious wild Sneasels who will at point blank attack with no remorse?

Every ounce of his body was numb. He already had that through his head. Was this how he was going to die?

No…there was hope to come. He knew it. He could hear it. They were coming for him, and of course, for recruitment. If only these violent beings knew what they were doing, then maybe they would not be so vicious. Did he have to show them of the world they now lived in to finally be able to get through to them of what they want? He did not want to admit it, but it appeared so.

He screamed into the air. All of the Sneasels turned to look at him, including the higher evolved one, the Weavile. They were monsters. That was what was going through his mind. And it was going to take a lot to transform monsters.

He tried to calm himself yet again, knowing that it was not the end yet. He fixed his mind, and thought about what he was thinking. He could not come to that conclusion so soon; after all, they were the ones that brought them down there. It was only natural that they would try and fight back. Even if what they did was probably going to save their lives.

How long would it take? Were the others ready yet? Why hadn't they gone to get the Sneasels? Why hadn't they gone to get _him_?

He screamed again, in hopes of having the others besides the Sneasels hear him. Was it possible that they did not know that he was still down there? That while they were getting ready, they did not find a good count missing? Maybe they figure he was dead like the others that had fallen above ground…who knows what was going through their minds. Whatever it was, he planned on making sure that they knew he was still alive.

The only way he was to do that, was scream. And so he did this over and over again.

And then he finally heard them; the walls were cracking, he could hear it! They were going to break through and take the others, or a select few out. Most likely the second one. It would be dangerous to take them all at once. So while they were busy collecting that few, he would be saved. It was perfect. It was simple. And he was going to live.

The walls cracked some more; it was noticeable. The ice even began to crack. And the Sneasels were taking notice.

They were coming.


	12. Friends?

The chapter after this tells everything you'll need to know that you don't know already (which should still be unknown at this point). Enjoy.

**Chapter 12: Friends?**

Cracks formed all around the walls, scaling down towards the ground level. It was obvious; something was going to happen. Those that had the strength readied themselves for battle. The cracks traveled all across the room, and even began to break apart the ice wall they had created. Irathie began to ready an ice beam, incase anything would happen. The others too readied ice with their attacks. This was going to be an all out battle; children included.

"Where are they coming from?" one of the younglings wondered.

The only answer given was the slow but constant cracking. The walls felt as if they were about to crumble inwards, to crush them. But they did not. The noise traded from each spot it was heard, going in a circle all around the room. None could keep up as the cracks became faster and faster.

"Everywhere," Irathie answered.

It was then, that the time froze. The cracks stopped, and for a short moment, everyone was given the chance to take a deep breath. None planned on putting their guard down. Unfortunately, not all were watching each others back.

The first Sandslash pulled from the left side of the ice wall, into the room with intense speed. It did not stop, and continued running until it bent downwards and grabbed upon Grik's legs. It pulled up, tripping her. He let go as Grik hit the ground head first, and it continued onwards, held onto one of the young ones, and pulled through the wall on the opposite side.

From the mid-section of the ice wall, another Sandslash burst, breaking the ice completely. It landed in front of the captured Sandslash, and pulled it from whatever grip it still had on the ice. Once free, the Sandslash tossed the him up, aiming to the opening it had made. There was another Sandslash there that pulled the one thrown up out of the room.

Irathie turned, ready to hurt the Sandslash that had just freed the other one. He rushed in a sprint, readying an ice filled fist. He did not expect a Sandslash to drop from the ceiling and land to his right. The second it landed, it quickly kicked Irathie at the knees, forcing him down on the ground. Instead of picking him up, the Sandslash kicked the Weavile again, flipping him, and using him as a spring board to the nearest wall, where he crawled out.

For awhile, everyone stood still. The noise had gone for just a small half second. And in the other half second, the noise returned. There were more going for them. At the same time, six Sandslash jumped into the room at different angles, surprising all of the Sneasels. A mini-battle was set into place, as the entire room erupted in a frenzy of slashes, ice, and pumping hearts.

It was unfair at the same time. The one and only Sandslash that found itself unoccupied by a fighting counterpart went for the already weak; simply putting, it repeatedly caused major pain to Mare by kicking nonstop. When it was done with him, it turned, grabbing onto Wendy's claw, and signaled for the others that it was time to leave.

The others began to disperse, scattering to the walls as the others only wished to cause more harm to them. But they had moved quickly, and began to go back to their little holes that they had made up high, and seal it.

Mare was not about to let the one that had caused _him_ pain get away. Just as the Sneasel left by pulling on Wendy's arm, Mare grabbed onto Wendy's leg. The Sneasel ended up pulling two weights, and just as it was about to rush into the dirt filled wall, Mare used both clawed hands to pull himself up to him, and grab onto the wrist, slashing it.

Pain ensued for the Sandslash. It ended up crashing into the wall, unable to concentrate on any type of digging technique to get through. In response, the Sandslash let go of Wendy and jumped towards the wall, clinging for awhile. Mare had his guard down, thinking it was going away. Instead, the Sandslash pushed against the wall, and aimed a slash for Mare's throat.

Mare let himself fall back, leaving the Sandslash to jump right over him. As the Sandslash hovered for a second over him, Mare kicked, making sure that he did so with as much force as possible, and with his clawed feet as sharp as possible. They were, and he dug deep into the stomach.

The Sandslash fell beside Mare, out of breath and in shock. The others surrounded it, not wanting to let the Sandslash escape. They saw the bleeding, and saw how it struggled to go to safety. It was useless; it was going to die with the amount of blood it was losing. None felt pity.

They were going to stay surrounding the Sandslash until it was dead. That would have been the plan, had a voice not broken them apart. "Let him go!" The voice yelled with a firm pitch. The others turned, not knowing who had just spoken. It was a new voice.

At the other side of the room stood a Weavile. None knew this Weavile; it was not Irathie. The Weavile had the appearance that showed he meant business. He walked towards the group, not saying a single word. And once in front of them, he began to speak again. "I believe we have a misunderstanding." He motioned for the Sandslash that was still struggling to be freed. "You need to let him go. He's a major asset to our goal."

"And just who are you?" Irathie asked. He was ready to fight; he had his death glare.

"You can call me the translator for all I care. At the moment, you are about to kill a hero. I really do not think that is a wise decision. Let him go."

The others looked at the Sandslash. By now, it had stopped trying to move. It gazed upon every one of them, not saying a thing. Irathie turned back to the other Weavile and said, "Just because you are our kind does not mean that we will listen to you. You have kidnapped us, and have taken one of our younglings. We want the boy back. Now."

"You do not know what you are saying. If you want to live through what the humans are doing, you are going to have to let _us_ keep the child."

Irathie pounced on the Weavile, bringing him to the ground. He had his clawed hand right against his throat. "We survived hours of what the humans have done. We can do more. Give us the child!"

There was a silence in the entire room. It appeared as if the Weavile was thinking it over. It was unclear to the others what it was for sure. The Weavile looked like he had done this many times before. But if he had, then how did they know that they were going to show up? What was this all? Irathie blinked it away, but did not get move his gaze upon the Weavile. When the Weavile did not answer, Irathie pushed his sharp claws deeper into the throat. The Weavile only winced.

"If you want the child," He began. Yes, that was the key to loosening the claw. Irathie began to release his sharp push against the throat. He still had his claws dangerously close, but he was giving the Weavile a chance. "Then you will have to give me…those three."

Irathie turned, quickly glancing upon the location. The first one was the Sandslash. The second was Wendy. The third was Mare. Irathie turned back to the Weavile. "Why do you want those two? What is so special?"

"They are hurt, and they will die soon. Just like the Sandslash. We can save them, but we need to take them. We need to take all of you, but only 3 at a time will be allowed. The child, and those two Sneasels I am asking for. I swear it; no harm will be done to either of them."

"And what happens if say, we do _not_ hand them over to you?"

There was a short pause. In the Weavile's mind, it was a very easy answer. He just did not want to say it when there were younglings around. But if it was the only way, then he was unfortunately going to have to do it that way. "Then all of you will die by the hands of the humans."

Irathie did not give the Weavile another chance for air, digging his claw within its shoulder, causing the Weavile to scream in pain. He let go, still wanting answers. "What do you know about the humans?"

"I know the reason why they want us dead. We all do. That is why we hid you from the world; any further, and you all would have been dead."

"Dead?" Irathie wondered. He then pointed to the unconscious form of Wendy. She still breathed, but it was light. And she had a pool of blood surrounding her. "These Sandslash had come to the surface and harmed us to the point where we almost died. That is worse than any human attack I've seen!"

"Is that so? Because I really believe you've seen worse." It was true; Irathie had seen worse. The entire explosion on Four Island was worse than what the Sandslash had done. The Sandslash and Sandshrew had not killed anyone; they just took them away from the surface. "Had you gone any further, then for sure, you would not have survived. I am sorry for the pain that the Sandslash had caused, but it was not their fault. There is a greater evil out there that has done this to us. I cannot explain it now, but what I can explain is that if you do not hand over the Sandslash, and the two I pointed out, then all 3 will die."

"No." Irathie answered again. He took a moment before saying what he was thinking of saying next. He was not sure whether it was the right thing to say. The moment died, and he said it anyway. "You take us all, or none."

There was another pause of silence. There was a small quake; most likely an aftershock of what the Sandslash and Sandshrew had been doing. The Weavile sighed, believing that he was going to go nowhere in his predicament. He said his final words. "If that is the way you want it. NOW!"

It was at that instant that in a blur unable to be seen even by the keen eye sight of birds, 3 figures blurred the room. The first appeared in front of Wendy in an instant, and disappeared with her as quickly as it had. The second did the same with Mare. And the third took the Sandslash. The Weavile, with all the strength it could muster, pushed Irathie off as he had gone into a confusion. He slashed at Irathie's stomach, and quickly stormed off. He disappeared in his own cloud of faint attack from the room.

And the room was silent again.

* * *

Mare had begun to lose consciousness throughout the entire scene. It was not until that blur made him jump that he began to react quickly. But he was not quick enough. He was in one room at one moment. In the next, he found a rock hard hand smash right into his head, knocking him out. 

They were in another hallway in the underground caves. The young Sneasel that had been taken was in this room, and now cried to find that two of the adults had been knocked out. The Graveler that had knocked Mare out pulled him over his shoulder, and brought him down the hall. A Sandslash held onto the youngling. And one of the forces that had brought the three to their current location picked up Wendy. It was an Erureido.

They all brought the three Sneasels through the broken halls, not stopping for anything. There were many locations they could have gone, but they kept their movement forward. There was a bright green light at the end of that tunnel. It took awhile before they fully got there, and as soon as they had entered, the light turned red.

There was a Chansey in front of some sort of large electronic equipment. It was here that Wendy was placed, under a flashing light. She was secluded in her spot, as a shield appeared around her. There were different noises coming to life from the machine. Eventually, there was an array of different colored lights surrounding the inside of the shield Wendy was in.

It only took a second before she fully awoke. And she felt…fine. She had been cured from whatever pains had been hurting her. She felt behind her to find that there was no gash from any slash at all. It appeared to her that she was perfect again.

And she finally caught gaze on the machine she was in. the shields were lifted. As the lights turned green. She had just been through a rejuvenator to heal. It was always found in the Pokémon Centers. Forcefully, she was pulled away as the Graveler that had held Mare placed him where she had just been.

It was the same thing over again for Mare; the red lights, the different colored arrays, the awakening…and he was fine. He was shocked, that was for sure. He was not sure of what had just happened.

He was led off of it, and immediately after that, they were led out of the room with the youngling by their side. They continued down another long hall. The Pokémon that were leading them were making sure that nothing went wrong. They were either trying their best to keep them safe or trying their best to get their job done.

It was strange to find the type of mix of Pokémon they were seeing. Mare said nothing of this, and because of that, Wendy did not say a thing either. The youngling picked up after his current elders, and also said nothing, even though he knew that there was something wrong.

Then it hit the 3. The place was too humanized. The Pokémon were not acting like they were supposed to; they were acting like…humans. But why? Was this the reason for the humans to want to kill the Pokémon? Because a few of them were picking up on their traits? It couldn't be…

They were led into a secluded off room. It further confirmed of the humanism by just seeing the layout. For one, it was very easy to tell that it was not a naturally made structure. It was sharpened to look like that of a perfect box shape. All three of them were thrown in there. Once they were in there, a gate was lowered by the control of the Erureido.

"Your questions will be answered soon. As of now, we just need you to stay put. Any questions?" No one asked. "Good, I'm off now." That was the Weavile that had been in the room before them. It was very random the way he showed up as he did, but Mare was not ask of that. But he did ask of something.

"Wait," Mare began.

The Weavile turned to face him. "Yes?"

"How far is the beach above us?"

It was a strange question for him to ask; Wendy and the youngling were looking at him in surprise, unsure of what he was planning. Whatever it was, they could feel that he planned something. The Weavile had a hard time thinking of this question. He was most likely thinking in his mind of what relevance the question had. "In human telling, it would most easily be said as half a mile high."

Mare said his thanks and nothing more. The Weavile was still curious. Mare could sense it as he left. Once the Weavile was out of ear shot, Mare stood Wendy up, and also picked up the youngling. "Okay; let's get out of here."

"Oh Mare; you don't really think that they'd be that stupid as to—,"

Wendy did not get to finish. Mare and the youngling disappeared from their spot in a smoky darkness, and in a flash, appeared in the hall, outside of the caged room they were in. "Come on," Mare motioned, putting down the youngling.

All in her mind, Wendy tried to see exactly how this was a bad idea. But she could find no reason. She refused to believe that these Pokémon had easily left an escape route for them. It couldn't be that easy…could it? She tried it, and in the next second, she appeared on the other side, after using her faint attack. They were outside of the room. "I—I don't believe it…they left the doors wide open for us!"

"Yes. Now let's find a way that we can get much closer to the real ground level before we do any more faint attacks to the surface. Who knows where we would end up if we did this now."

"Mare…this is impossible…it's too easy…"

"That is what I was thinking, but I said nothing. Now let us get out of here before they find out that we actually have the ability to do what we just did."

"Really; they're that dense?"

"It appears so."


	13. Truth

**Chapter 13: Truth**

The Weavile had gone back to the room that had consisted of the rest of the colony. The group of Sneasels were more alert this time and made it harder for the entire team to capture them. But the Weavile and the group of Sandslashes were able to capture 4 more this time, consisting of Vie, another youngling named Tefite, Larne, and Irathie.

They were of course beaten the second they were out of the cave, making sure that they could not run from them. The same routine that happened with Mare, Wendy, and the other youngling happened to these four. They were sent to that rejuvenator, and then sent to their cage. Only, there was a problem. The cage was empty. There were supposed to be 3 other Sneasels in there.

"Alright. Fine," said the Weavile. "They want this done the hard way; they will have it done that way. All they had to do was wait; we weren't going to cause any harm." He made his claws appear even sharper than they actually were, and then began to tap with his feet on the ground. It was a hidden code, not like Morse code. It was their creation of communication.

Instantly, the Graveler and Erureido knew exactly what the Weavile had stated. The Erureido was told to wait at the entrance to make sure no one else made an exit. The Graveler was sent with the Weavile. They were going to hunt out Mare and Wendy.

* * *

Mare and Wendy themselves weren't having an easy time looking for an exit (or even a way up). The youngling began to cry; he was not old enough to understand words of the Sneasel kind just yet. He was far too young. Mare made a silent promise that he would allow this youngling to grow to be as old, or older than him. There were too many deaths that Mare had seen already; he was not about to watch another child die.

So as the youngling cried, Wendy tried her best to comfort him. But it was no use; it was the atmosphere that was getting to him. As long as they were within those tunnels, that youngling was not going to quiet. This was another reason for Mare to hurry on his quest to find the surface.

Just as they turned a corner, believing that they were going upwards now, they found someone at the end. It was the Weavile. He did not move; he stood there, as if he had been waiting for them to come. "What are you two doing up here?" he asked.

None answered. Mare gave the youngling to Wendy and blocked the two. "We are getting out of here. There is nothing you can say about it."

"On the contrary, you are not getting out of here. If you take one step out to the world above, you will all die. Trust me; you are safer in here."

"I was beaten for no reason at all; is that what you call being safe?"

"We have our ways of working down here. Right now, you need to trust me here. You will not survive outside; we _need_ you down here. All of you. None of you know what is going on, do you?" there was silence from the three. "That's right, you do not. And as long as you don't, you are staying down here. After you hear us out, you can do what you want with your lives, but you have to listen to us, and try to understand what is happening."

"I understand that the humans have turned against us. That is all I need to understand; human equals bad, Sneasels equals good."

"Do you truly believe that? Don't say what you do not believe. You have to turn back and return to that cage, and you will be filled in on what is wrong."

"Is that so?"

"Yes; that's so."

"Thanks, but no thanks. Wendy, this youngling, and the rest of the colony are coming with me. Return to whatever it was that you were doing, and we will handle our own battles like life intended us to."

"You are not listening; you will DIE out there!"

"But then again, we could _live _out there."

It was at this point that a certain memory was returning. This Weavile was speaking in the memory. Then, out of the blue, something happened that ended up capturing him and Wendy. If the Weavile was doing the same trick he had done before, then…

Quickly, Mare turned around, ducking. He shot an ice beam right behind him, past Wendy, and head on to the Graveler that had hit him before. The ice hit hard, pushing it to the back wall. It then froze it in place. Mare couldn't believe it; he had not felt the presence, he just thought that the same thing as before was going to happen. It was a lucky attack.

"I hoped it would not come to this point," the Weavile stated. Mare only looked back once. That was all he needed to before he saw ice freeze over his face. Through the glass, as he fell to the floor, he saw the Weavile jump over him. And he felt the slashes over the ice block that covered him. he saw the distorted image of Wendy pushing the Weavile back, and running forward to where they were going. The Weavile turned back to Mare for only a moment, and then completely knocked him out, by punching with full force, breaking the ice glass, and hitting a sensitive part in the head. Mare was out cold.

* * *

The next thing Mare saw was waking up back at where he had been before. Only this time, the entire colony had been placed in the large caged cavern room. He looked around the room, scanning it. There seemed to have been everyone. Except for two; Wendy and the youngling. It was good that they had escaped; now Mare felt better. Or had they? Maybe they were still wondering the halls, trying to get out.

That part did not matter; what mattered was the fact that they had not been caught just yet. Something told him that they were searching for her blindly throughout the entire cavern underground. He smiled and hoped that they would not find her. That was all he could do.

The room seemed crowded as the Sneasels began to fill each other with many questions as to what the place was and how the many diverse Pokémon were able to communicate. It appeared that they communicated with a different sort of language that involved tapping. Why would they learn this language? They were not so sure. A better question was asked through one of the younglings; what was worse, the Pokémon around them, or the humans?

Mare kept himself secluded and said nothing. And for a long while, like how it had been in the other room they had been, they were just stuck there with only plans or wishes to escape. Whether they were going to try these plans or not was something else. For now, Mare stuck with the back, and said nothing.

It took a long while before the Weavile returned to them. His expression was unreadable. Mare tried to take a glance on what he could be thinking, trying to find any traces of the thought that Wendy had been caught or not. But he could not ready the Sneasel's face. He was going to have to wait, unfortunately.

The Weavile stood there, waiting for the Sneasels to quiet down. He was going to say something; it looked very obvious now. The children were shushed by the older Sneasels as they readied themselves for whatever it was that this Weavile was going to say. The entire room was now quiet, and the Weavile still said nothing. It was not until fifteen seconds later that he let words escape his mouth. "I suppose you would all want to know what you are doing here…" this was a no-brainer; of _course_ they wanted to know what they were doing there. "Alright; then let me start at the beginning."

He moved away from his spot, nearing the gate that divided them. He took a deep breath, and began the tale.

"This all began five months ago. There is a human organization that had a major role in it. To put what they were trying to do in simpler terms before I elaborate on what you might not get, is this; they were trying to make Pokémon smarter. Don't say anything yet; there is more. What they were originally targeting was the much lower graded Pokémon; Pokémon that had no common sense to lead them through lives. Easy targets would be a Psyduck and a Slowpoke. They tried to make them smarter, and it succeeded. They began to do this as a job, and make the _dumb_ Pokémon, as they would call it, smarter. There appeared to be no flaw in what they were doing. Until they evolved.

"Their evolved forms were much stronger, and much smarter than even the humans. At first, they just let it be, but then a murder occurred. It was supposed to be that the father killed the son. Better detective jobs soon found that the father was innocent; it was their Golduck that had killed the boy, and framed the father. It sounded crazy, but it was the truth. Then when they found out that this Golduck had been enhanced in a way, they shut down the procedure.

"This was not the end of it; not by far. The evil side of the humans found out about the enhanced projects. These are the evil teams such as Team Rocket; whether anyone has heard of them or not, it does not matter anymore. These teams wanted smarter Pokémon to help them succeed in gaining power over the world. They were able to get scientists that had been part of the procedure to make Pokémon smarter, and paid them grandly to enhance their Pokémon.

"Their jobs became easier, and the amount of time taken to capture Pokémon had quickened with the new enhanced Pokémon. Unfortunately, they were too smart, and eventually rebelled against the organization. Johto was the first to go down. Then this place; Kanto. I do not know what has happened to the other regions; I don't want to know.

"This place here is Kanto as you should know by now. The enhanced Pokémon fought for their rights, trying to gain even more power. They began to speak using code languages that only they would know. Using these languages, they had managed to wipe out the entire west coast. Meaning, there is no more Indigo League; it is gone.

"That is when the plan to destroy them all came to place. It was originally intended to be only for the Pokémon that fought back, but then there was more to it. It appears that the non-enhanced Pokémon had been picking up on what the enhanced Pokémon were doing, and on a race to be the dominant species, began to fight both, enhanced, and humans. That was all that the humans needed to be pushed over the edge. Every island that held Pokémon that were supposedly not enhanced yet, was destroyed. I know about Four Island. I know it was destroyed.

"The good humans as we'd like to call them decided to say that not all Pokémon were bad. They still had their Pokémon companions, and they would be with them all the way. And for a long while, it appeared so. The Pokémon that were already loyal to humans did not disobey; they only listened to the humans. This brought on a list of endless battles that were of capturing more Pokémon to change their mentally tampered minds, but it was not working. Nothing was going to change them, and so the humans backed off.

"As of now, there is a battle being waged all around Kanto. It is the wild versus the humans. So far, the humans are losing. And that is why we need you. We need volunteers to help us fight them back."

The Weavile began to go on and on with how they would be helping them by ridding of the humans, and that what was happening was the fault of the humans and the humans alone. And then, he said something that was very surprising before he began to walk off. He said to them all, "To all of you; I'd like to say, that I am one of the enhanced. Think about this; help us."

As he was walking off, mare called him out. He was not going to let him get away just yet. "You say this had been going on for the past five months. Tell me, how noticeable was this?"

"Very," said the Weavile.

Mare began to use his brain now. He thought about all those times he entered the human towns. He remembered gazing upon the Tee Vee. He had never seen anything on it that helped what the Weavile was saying. They never mentioned anything like that. Maybe it was because Mare did not understand the language, but why would there be no images? Another issue he found was Wendy. She knew nothing of this; she had said it before; Irathie explained on the boat. If it had been very noticeable, then she would have easily been able to tell them what had been happening, and they would have a clue to stop guessing. That meant one thing; someone was a liar.

"You are lying," Mare said. The Weavile did not move, seeming to wait for Mare to say more. "This can't be happening. It's impossible…none of us had heard of this…I saw nothing; not even…" he was about to tell of Wendy. Deep inside, he hoped that the Weavile had forgotten all about her. He stopped right there, not going on.

"Well, if you have nothing to say anymore, I am off."

The Weavile began to walk away. As he did so, the Erureido that had kept close to him began to form a shield blocking anything from exiting or entering the room the Sneasels were in. but it was not fast enough; Mare thought quicker.

He used faint attack to fall through the door and appear right in front of the Weavile. Once there, he kicked him against the cavern cage cars. Irathie, inside the cavern, improvised and kicked at the Weavile's back, pushing him back to Mare. Mare bent under, and picked him up heavily over his shoulder. The Erureido was ready with a powerful psychic shot. Unfortunately, when it shot the beam, Mare used the Weavile as a shield, and the beam hit the Weavile.

Dropping the Weavile to the floor, Mare ran right at the Erureido. It had no time to react, and before he knew it, Mare had jumped and slashed right across the face, knocking it out. He breathed heavily. Then, he turned around, and had the gate opened for the others. "RUN!" he yelled.

* * *

The underground tunnels were a maze. It was hard to get around, and while they were all running about, they began to lose each other as they turned down different corridors. They were all looking for an exit. Only Mare was searching for the scent of Wendy and the youngling. He found it several times, but lost it due to them turning in a new direction. No one followed after him.

It was unfortunate; off in the distance, he heard the Sneasels being captured. He kept on telling himself that at least it was not him. it was good as long as it was not him. as he thought these thoughts, he had not realized that the air had gotten much more breathable. And as he turned another corner, he found Wendy on the floor. She was barely getting up, and dizzily trying to run forward.

Mare caught up right next to her and pulled her to a stop. "What is happening?" he asked.

"The Sandslash—it took the young one!" Wendy shouted. Off in the distance, the cry was heard. Yes, it was true. Someone had taken the young one.

"Are you alright?" Mare asked. He looked all over her. That was when he found the many slash marks all over her body. She had tears in her eyes.

"I was trying Mare; I really was…he took him from me…I'm going to get him back!"

It was then that all pain seemed to have been released from her, and in amazing speed, she ran forward like Mare had never seen anyone run. And so, he followed behind her. The air was becoming cleaner, and clearer.

Where were they going? He wasn't sure, but it felt like…

It only took a few seconds before Mare hit the surface of the beach.


	14. Hellfire

**Chapter 14: Hellfire**

The first thing Mare noticed as he stepped out into the somewhat light sky was that there were a few rocks in front of him, leading a tiny hill downwards to the rest of the beach. The rest of the way led back to where they had been ambushed. In front of him, he saw the Sandslash running off with the youngling. Just a few yards ahead of him was an extremely large amount of different species Pokémon.

This was startling; Mare could not help but stop. Even as Wendy began to pass him in order to catch up to the Sandslash, Mare did not move. He caught what they were getting ready to do; they were getting ready for battle. Why were they looking towards the mouth of the cave opening he had just gotten out of? His first bet was that they were going to attack them now.

But there was a sound that felt so daunting, it even made Mare ready to battle. He then realized that it was from behind him. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen because of what stood behind him.

He turned. It was very awkward to find up in the clouds, coming at high speeds, was a human aircraft. A Jet as they called them; and there was a missile ready to be fired, as well as a mounted gunner that was ready to shoot.

Quickly, Mare jumped from his position and off the small hill, and onto the sand. The sound of the aircraft was near; he quickly picked himself up and ran after Wendy. As he did, he told her to not look back and keep running. There was a sudden click from behind him and a whoosh as the missile passed overhead, aiming for the large mass. Mare let himself fall to the ground. Once Wendy saw it pass her, she stopped fully too. The Pokémon moved from where the missile was heading. Eventually, it hit the center of the large crowd as they still tried to disperse. There was a big bang as they all scrambled out of the way. Some tried to contain the explosion in psychic energies.

The sound was deafening; Mare couldn't get it out of his head after it was done. When he opened his eyes, bullets hit beside him and hurriedly rushed towards the large group, also missing Wendy.

Several jets flew overhead shooting rounds, passing all the Pokémon while shooting, then rising above into the air to get ready for a second attack. It was at this point that the Pokémon began their defense. The first line of this were the flying types that rushed up towards the fast flying jets to give them an off balance wind.

Mare barely stood when he saw a Pidgeot forcefully use the winds and push the jet downwards. All he had to do was look up to find the jet lose control and eventually land not even a football field away, and burn in an eruption of flames.

Now seemed like the time to run.

Mare ran forward just as the next array of jets returned, again shooting. He did not fall as the bullets made near misses, and as the jets continued to pass overhead. He just ran. When he reached Wendy, he helped her up while keeping his head low, then they both tried to hide from the flying bullets and jets.

And then came the array of attacks from the Pokémon. All types of attacks were given at once. There was too much chaos to keep any mind straight; all Mare and Wendy could think of was getting out of the heat, and that seemed near impossible considering there were many Pokémon and the beach stretch on forever until they reached the docks.

It was in the distance when Mare caught a glimpse of the Sandslash that had the youngling, and saw him running pass many other Pokémon. Those that were in the Sandslash's way, he'd push. Nothing was going to stop him from getting to whatever destination he was trying to reach.

And because of this, nothing was going to stop Mare from chasing him.

It was hard to try and hold each other up; the ground shook and flames erupted from nowhere. A jet even smashed into a group only feet away from them. It slide down until 4 psychic types stopped it, and with their mind, thrust it towards the oncoming jets, hitting two and bringing them down.

They were doing good in running; at least there was no Pokémon trying to stop them; they were too concerned with the human jets. It was all moving so smoothly; it was a surprise when a bomb went off so near Mare and Wendy that it forced them onto the sand.

Mare quickly turned over in order to see where it had come from. There was no way it had come from the sky. It was from the east side. The east side was only ocean. And off in the distance, he could see floating water tanks heading towards the beach. Their guns were already aimed, and bullets began to fly.

Bullets were now shooting from two directions. Mare quickly bolted on all fours as they began to hit in his direction. He hated doing this, but he had to; he pushed two Pokémon out of his way to survive. It was instinct. In front of him was Wendy, who was crawling towards an injured Golduck.

On purpose, Mare tripped himself in order to stop good. When he had, he reached for Wendy, pulling her back. It was good timing; a bomb hit right next to the Golduck, exploding.

They could both feel blood on them, but none looked to what happened to the Golduck. They pretty much pictured something gruesome. Mare could picture it by just looking at the amount that hit the back of his arm.

"Come on!" he shouted, pulling Wendy harshly. They again began to run through the battlefield. Mare kept his eyes open for the Sandslash. It was Wendy who spotted them, and pointed. But when she had pointed, a bullet flew by her, striking her shoulder and bringing her to the sand.

Quickly, Mare ducked and stood by her, trying his best to stay out of the flying bullets. He pulled at Wendy, hoping she would stand. But she would not, and the battle began to become even harsher as the explosion would not stop. There was a sudden sound right above him. When Mare had looked, he was given only a limited amount of time to fully lie himself on the ground. He fell right over Wendy, trying to press his entire body against her. A jet flew by extremely close overhead, scaring his back with the flames it emitted. And then it crashed when a Machoke jumped and smashed it to the ground. When it hit, a Typhlosion immediately lit it in flames. That mixed with the gas caused a major explosion. The fact that it had two missiles still hidden did not help.

This was enough to fully force Wendy to stand. Mare helped her walk, which furthermore slowed their speed. But they were not going to stop; they could still see the Sandslash running in the distance beyond the destroyed jet.

"How the heck doesn't he get hit?" wondered Wendy.

"He's determined; like us," Mare answered. He did not bother on going on about it, even though Wendy could sense that he actually meant like himself. She had been hurt far too many times, while Mare took in a lot more, yet still managed to be in better health than her.

Mare helped her onwards, but he was unsure how far they were going to make it. If the battle continued the way it was moving, they were eventually going to get hit harder. One of them, or both, was going to die.

Wendy put that at the back of her head as Mare continued his constant pull, and she continued her trudge. The skies darkened as the explosions were brought nearer to the sky. There were flying and dragon types in the air combating the jets with fires, winds, talons, and claws. It made strange lining across the sky that looked terrifying if viewed from afar.

They were thick in the middle of it.

Beyond, there finally came the dockings for the ships that used to travel there. And of course, there were still a large amount of Pokémon that were either running towards the bigger fight or taking flight. Some even jumped towards the water in order to take out the shooting floating tanks. In no order particular, many of those water tanks began to explode in flames, causing the water to rock and swish and sway in different directions.

When Wendy and Mare finally made it to the docks, they both went under the boards. Once there, Mare placed Wendy down against one of the poles. There was water where they stood, and it began to heat and sway violently the more they stayed there.

It was most likely the strangest question to ask at the moment, but Mare had to get it off of him. It had been on his mind and was washed away the minute they were attacked. But now that they were somewhat safe, he had to ask. He looked at Wendy, trying to read anything off of her before he asked. She looked like she had just been through hell.

"Wendy, I need you to listen to me and listen good," Mare began. There was an explosion overhead, causing him to lose balance for only a second, but he got back.

"Mare; the Sandslash is getting away!" Wendy shouted.

But Mare ignored her, and pretended that she had agreed with him. He then proceeded to asking the question. "What, if you knew anything, did you know about this? What signs showed that this was going to happen? What sign showed that…that other Pokémon normally found good to be bad?"

Wendy looked at him in disbelief. Her expression was that of being slapped. She did not understand the moment for a second, but when it fully registered, she felt that Mare did not believe her. Trust her.

"I don't know anything. One day I was with my trainer, the next…I was with you and the colony."

"What happened to your trainer?" It was a subject that Wendy did not want to go through. She felt a heat fuel within her, but she calmed herself. And the calmness brought instead of anger, tears. Mare easily found that he had hit a weak spot, but he still wanted to know. He wanted to know what had started this, and why he hadn't known about it. "Come on Wendy; you belonged to a trainer; surely you must have known something like this was going to happen; there had to be signs!"

"There were no signs—it just happened!"

"You belonged to a trainer."

"You belonged to a colony and _watched_ trainers. Shouldn't you know something?"

This was going to go nowhere; the start of the conversation was a very bad one at a very bad location. The fight, Mare could tell had been brought closer to the docks. He closed his eyes, and sighed. "I will be back; you are injured. You can't go."

"No—wait!"

Mare did not let her finish. He ran off, towards the sandy area. Everything shook once he was out of the water from some type of explosion. Quickly, Mare climbed over to the top of the docks, and scanned the area. He did not see the Sandslash, but according to the direction it had been going, he decided to chase north.

It was no doubt that the fight had been brought to the docks; now there were many Pokémon filling the area just to get ready to battle the incoming jets, who still shot repeatedly in hopes of shooting something down. Mare ended up always having to duck, afraid that he would get hit. He ran as fast as he could over the docks, but the faster he did, the more explosions went off.

One of the docking boards behind him began to crumble apart as a water tank drove its way to land. Mare did not turn around; he kept running. Many of the water tanks made it to the land, and once there, began to shoot repeatedly at the Pokémon.

Just up ahead was what looked to be a fishing house. It stood on the boards, as if it were some sort of reception of the docks. Quickly, Mare made his way inside the broken glass door. It was inside where he found the Sandslash taking shelter. When he saw him, the Sandslash stood and ran out the other end. Quickly, Mare made a chase after him. but he did not even get past half the house when the entire roof came tumbling off. There was an explosion of fire overhead and a large amount of blowing winds. Mare fell to the floor, slowly making his way across. Once the winds calmed, he stood and began his run again. He could see the Sandslash in the distance, running towards a human settlement.

Mare had to stop to get a look at the settlement. He was surprised; it was covered with some type of purple force field through most of the corners of entrances. It was here where jets easily made their way towards the battlefield. He could not believe it.

Quickly, he gained his speed again and kept his eyes on the Sandslash. He ran towards the entrance, but did not enter the force field. He went around the side of what little walkway was left.

He was running for the Pokémon Tower. Mare did not have enough time to think of anything else; gunfire began again, and he was forced to run. Behind him, he could feel the forcefulness of the battle as it thickened even more. Mare worried for Wendy, and hoped that she was safe.

But on his mind currently, was the Sandslash. He made it to the tower, and after seeing the Sandslash enter, he followed afterwards.

Inside was what used to be the scent of humans. But the humans were long gone. Yes, Mare could feel where the humans used to walk around. But now was not the time to be feeling these things; he searched around to find the Sandslash hurriedly make his way up the stairs with the youngling at hand.

Where were the ghost-types? Supposedly they were to be flying all around the tower. Mare had yet again seen this marvel on the Tee Vee before. But right now, as he looked, he saw no ghosts. They were all gone, and appeared to be dead beyond of what their limits into death was.

Mare ran up the stairs. On the second floor, he looked around yet again. He found graves. They did not look like the human graves he had seen on Four Island; they appeared smaller. Only one look at one of them, and Mare could easily say that this was where they buried the dead Pokémon. He could not get his mind off of finding all those that were dying on the beach being placed there in the castle.

He continued onwards, always alerts. The fact that it was quiet seemed to be a disadvantage and an advantage. The disadvantage was the fact that he could not find the Sandslash, and he could easily hide. The advantage was that if the Sandslash was hiding, then it would soon be found with a single movement it made.

Eventually, Mare heard the footsteps above him. The Sandslash was definitely on the move, climbing higher and higher. Not wasting any time, Mare took the first flight of stairs up again to the third floor, and onwards to the forth and fifth. As he climbed, the place got even darker than the floor before it. There was a thick fog substance in the air too, which was becoming a problem.

For a split second, he lost the Sandslash. Then, he heard the noise of the youngling cry, and he immediately reacted. It appeared to be coming directly from the floor above. He found the stairs and rushed through it. This proved to be a horrible choice. At the top, when he entered the highest floor, the Sandslash used a crumbled tombstone to hit Mare over the head.

Mare was not given any chance to recollect himself; once on the ground, the Sandslash used what remained of the tombstone to hit him over and over. All Mare could do was brace himself for the pain that entered. One last hit was given until the tombstone completely broke apart. From there, the Sandslash picked Mare easily off the ground and slammed him to the wall. His claws were sharp and ready to pierce.

Quickly, in an instant as the Sandslash began to thrust his claw at him, Mare used his feet to hold the claw in place. But he was still being gripped at the neck by the other claw, and the Sandslash tightened that claw in order to force him to let go.

Mare choked, as he could not breathe in any air. The Sandslash hit repeatedly, this time with not much force of his strong claw hit. He was saving it; at the moment, he wanted Mare to feel pain. It was then that in the distance, Mare heard a cry. It came from the ceiling.

It was the youngling, and it held on upside down, watching what was going on. The young Sneasel was scared of everything that was going on. The sight of his own kind being beaten was even more frightening to him. The cry was enough to give Mare the extra boost he needed to fight back.

Using one of his free claws, Mare tried to concentrate. He tried to push the thought of being held against the wall away; he could not think of this. He had to think that he was instead getting ready for a battle. Once in this state, Mare punched with his claw, digging deep into the Sandslash's side.

It worked perfectly. The Sandslash backed away, holding the pain in its side. When it had moved, Mare was let to fall to the floor, coughing. They were both trying to stop the pain that had rushed through each of them. None were ready to fight. But in their minds, they knew that one of them had to be the first to regain composure to defeat the other.

Luckily, Mare was the first to do so. He was not ready to attack by the time the Sandslash readied its claw for an attack, but he shot an ice beam at it. The ice froze the claw, forcing the Sandslash back. It was stunned, looking at its new frozen claw. Mare knew what it felt; it felt the sheer coldness rush through its entire arm. It tried to break the ice by using its other claw to cut it off. Mare pushed forward and jumped on the Pokémon, bringing it down. Once on the floor, he began to slash repeatedly at it, as it had done to him. even after seeing the blood pool begin, Mare did not stop.

In a last resort, the Sandslash used its free claw to slam into the floor. It pulled parts of the floorboards up, revealing artificial dirt beneath. It hit Mare with the board, pushing him off. Once he was off, it easily dug underneath the soil.

Mare looked at the dirt, knowing that there were dead Pokémon underneath it somewhere. The Sandslash was now disturbing their rest. At the same time of thinking these thoughts, he readied himself in case the Sandslash decided to attack from the ground like all those others had.

He was lucky to prepare; it nabbed at his feet, trying to trip him. Mare aimed to the floor and again shot an ice beam at the claw that had not been frozen. Once frozen, he pulled the claw, and heavily brought the Pokémon to the surface. He held the Sandslash for two seconds. Then he forced his kneecap to hit the Pokémon's face.

It cried out, but Mare did not care. He heavily heaved the Sandslash to the side, and it rolled away, trying to break the ice filled claws. Mare jumped towards it, but it used its claws to better attack. The Sandslash punched Mare with its ice claws literally giving him an ice punch.

Mare moved back a bit, stunned. It then hit two more times. On the last time, its right claw burst from its frozen prison. It slammed the claw into Mare, and pushed him towards the window. They both hit it, and with the force, the glass shattered. They did not fall out, but in the short seconds that the Sandslash had, it forcefully gripped Mare, pushing him over the edge of the window until there was no ground below. Mare was struggling to free himself.

In defense, he kicked the Sandslash. It let go in pain, and Mare held onto the ledge before he could fully fall. He pushed himself to the side, and once there, climbed a bit, clawing himself to the top of the entire tower. The Sandslash tried to reach for him, but he was too quick. As Mare pulled himself to the tip top, the Sandslash pulled itself out of the window, and too began to climb using its claws to dig deep.

It clawed on Mare's ankle, forcing him to shout in pain. But Mare was not giving up; he kicked at its face. It only mildly helped by freeing him. he then began to continue his climb, until he reached the top. It was slanted upwards, so it was not the smoothest place to be.

The Sandslash pulled itself to where Mare was. Mare was ready to fight it, his claws fully active. The Sandslash too seemed ready to beat Mare to a pulp.

There was a tiny stare down from the two. They were waiting for each other to make a move. One wrong move could push them off of the tower and to their death at the bottom.

Not wanting to be that one that fell, Mare slid towards the Sandslash, ready to kick it. but it was ready. It grabbed at Mare's feet, and tossed him downwards. Mare almost lost himself, but held onto the window ledge he had gotten out of. From there, he pulled himself back up painfully. Slowly, he made his way back to the Sandslash. The Sandslash did not seem to have the most pleased face at the moment.

It turned directions, ready to pounce on Mare at any given second. But Mare yet again did the pouncing. It appeared as if he was going to slash the Sandslash. It moved out of the way. Its effort was useless; Mare was not even aiming towards the Sandslash, but to the location next to it. Once it had the general idea that Mare would be in the spot it moved from, it attacked. It hit nothing, and in the confusion, Mare kicked the Sandslash. It fell towards the ledge they had climbed out, and held on just like Mare had.

At a much faster rate, the Sandslash pulled itself back up. It looked up at Mare, as if ready to attack. It smiled, knowing that it could easily make a move that could harm Mare enough to throw him off the edge. But its thinking was not fast enough. In the middle of its thoughts, another force of claws pushed it out over the window, and in an instant, the Sandslash yelled for its life as it fell over the edge. It hit the ground with a thud that Mare could hear from his position on the top floor.

And slowly, the Pokémon that the pair of claws belonged to emerged from the window. It was Wendy, looking very bloodied after being through a mist of battle. Mare was shocked beyond reason, unable to answer how she had gotten there. He looked beyond where he stood, towards the beach. Off in the distance, he saw the fight continue. He also saw large amounts of red spots as flames erupted and bodies fell.

Mare turned away, unable to look again. He closed his eyes as he slowly made his progress back down, and into the window. Wendy helped him in, and placed him on the floor where he could rest. She could see that he was in pain.

"Mare, you need help," she said, trying to stay calm. The youngling stood right beside her, a worried look upon his face.

Mare was surprised but could not answer what had just happened. All he could do was look. Even though it had just happened seconds before, the memory of the battle seemed to slowly be wiped from his memory to submit darkness. But he was not ready to fall into unconsciousness yet again; he couldn't. They were in the middle of a battlefield.

Or were. At the moment, they were somewhat safe and needed to get out of there. The fires were heard outside, and the explosions overpowered them. Mare slowly stood and leaned on his good leg. His right leg seemed to have all of a sudden cramped up. He did not care; he let Wendy help him.

The youngling looked at Mare sympathetically, unable to do anything. It followed the two as they began to leave the room.

"It's okay Mare; you are going to be fine," Wendy kept saying. She said other words to that effect, but Mare slowly began to block them out. Even the bombs outside were blocked out.

He wondered if she remembered the question he had asked her before he got to the tower. Had she forgotten already, or was she just trying to not bring it up? It did not matter; at the moment, Mare had to submit to the fact that he was in pain. He let Wendy carry him slowly down the steps as his vision continued to blur.


	15. Forest Route

I was extremely sleepy writing the second half of this chapter. Sorry if that second half sucks or something. XD

**Chapter 15: Forest Route**

Wendy placed Mare against a tree nearing the explosions of the beach. They were not in the battle, but just about near the small forested area between Lavender and Saffron. She, the youngling, and Mare could hear the explosions clearly in the distance. Once Mare was placed against the tree, he closed his eyes. Wendy called out his name, afraid that he might have lost consciousness. He hadn't; he was just tired.

As he sat there, Wendy began to feel tired. She too sat down beside him, her stomach growling. She realized something just then; she was hungry. She looked around the grassy area, hoping to find at least some berries to feed on. But there was none. Not even a small lake of water to fuel them.

The youngling hung around the tree, enjoying himself. When Wendy looked up to find the smile on his face, she could not help but feel jealous that he could feel safe just by not being thick in the battle. Wendy herself could not tell how far they had to travel before they themselves felt safe. Where would they need to go to escape the battles happening all over the region of Kanto? Did they have to somehow move onto another Region just to escape it? Why couldn't it all stay at Four Island; why did the horror have to follow them to Kanto? Why did the horror have to exist?

She did not understand it, and only wished to have these questions of hers answered. Without the answers, she was not sure that she could go on, afraid that no matter where she would go, there would be danger. It appeared to happen that way for the last few hours. Not even a day had gone by, and so much fighting had to pass through her. She was angry at this fact, and mad that she could not somehow solve it. What time was it anyway?

The clouds said that it was around the nighttime for humans. She was not sure; it was basically the time that her trainer would fall to sleep in. It had been that long…almost a day had gone by.

It had to be a nightmare; when she would go to sleep, she would not be falling to sleep, but waking up. This was not happening; her trainer was fine and they were still on Four Island. In the morning, she would travel with her trainer, and everything would be alright. It had to have been that way; there was no other answer. There had to be none.

She rested her head on the grass, hoping to quickly get the rest that she needed so much. But the bombs in the distance were not letting her sleep. They made sure to keep her up all night long. The quakes also felt very real for it to be a dream. She forcefully closed her eyes, again hoping to fall asleep.

When she opened her eyes, she found that she was still where she had been. And she was always going to be there. This was real; there was no escape from the battles.

Instead of staying in that location, she turned around, going to the opposite direction of the trunk of the tree Mare lay on. There, knowing that there was no one to watch her, she cried. And her tears had never felt so real to her ever before.

"Why is this happening?" She asked herself. It was a rushed statement; to quick for even her mind to comprehend it. Instead of getting answers, she got the wind and the sounds of warfare. This was happening, and nothing was going to change that fact.

She faced the other way and closed her eyes. Somehow, she felt safer this way. As if her problems would be solved this way; that by closing her eyes, her old safe world would return to her, and she would be able to finally feel safer than she had ever felt in her life. So far, the battles were not helping.

"I hope you're alright," Mare began. She looked around, thinking that he would be right there beside her to comfort her. But he was not in sight. He was still on the other side of the trunk, with his eyes closed. But he listened to her. "These days, it's unsafe to be bawling like that. These days, you have to fight to survive. These days are what make me proud to say that I can survive in the wild. You are a trained one of us; surely you should be able to survive better by already knowing the ways of humans. So it amazes me that I sometimes find Pokémon like you crying for hope, when you should be the ones that are even stronger than us."

Wendy did not answer him. She did not feel like answering him. She felt like waking from a nightmare.

"There are times even when I wish that _I_ was one raised by humans. But I'm not, so I do not know many of the quirks that one raised by a human does. I do not know how to survive in another land. You do; because you have been everywhere with your trainer, and fought many battles in all types of terrains. That is very scary for some of us. This is why it amazes me when something horrible happens, and it is those that have been trained that bawl, and those that are wild that fight back."

"It's not that simple Mare; it's actually very complicated to be with a trainer. There is a cer—certain emotional bond between Pokémon and human that is created. It cannot be broken. The Pokémon will not allow that bond to break. Once it is broken, there is nothing left."

"But there is; it is called survival. You've found that key."

"No I haven't…"

"Sure you have; you've lived through many death matches in the last couple of hours even after your trainer has been lost. You found survival when you lost your bond, as you call it. You are very strong for this reason alone. I; well, I am just me, the one that will step up and protect a cause because I am told to."

"No; that's not you. You have a hatred for humans; I saw it when we were on the boat."

"Hatred or not, I _will_ do as I am told, and I will do it well. What of you, Wendy? If you were told to do something by your trainer, that maybe you might find as wrong, would you do it? Would you question your trainer?"

"Please; let's not go there."

There was silence. Again, it was only the bombs that shook away that feeling of quietness. The wind had seemed to have gotten thicker, and was beginning to worry Wendy. She was not so sure how thicker it would get, and if the land of Kanto would fall as Four Island had.

"Mare, what are the chances of us surviving this all?" Wendy asked.

"I am not sure. Normally, I would try staying alive a day at a time. I'm not so sure that this would work based upon our current situation. In this case, it would appear that we would need to prepare for some type of survival plan on the future. We are unsure of which way this battle between human and Pokémon will sway, so it'd be best to stay cautious at all times, no matter where we are at."

"How does that answer my question?"

"It does not. However, if you want my opinion on the fact; I would say, none. As a matter of fact, we should have a few more minutes' worth of life for us. Better enjoy them now before the time has come to run out."

"And how do you suppose we do that?"

"Most likely, continue to run until we get caught. Or," he turned around, slowly standing, and circling the tree. He sat down right beside Wendy, not looking at her, but at where she had been looking. "We could risk everything and find out why the humans are attacking us. Tell me; which option appears more appealing?"

Wendy did not have to think twice. If Mare said that they were going to have a short life-expectancy, then they were most likely going to not live the rest of the hour. But what he was saying was true, and if anything, Wendy would better appreciate death if she knew exactly _why_ it was that she died.

"I'm going with the latter," she answered.

* * *

Even though Mare and Wendy were just about ready to continue on their journey to an unidentified destination, they did not move until several minutes afterwards, when the youngling had crawled down the tree to lie next to Wendy. It was time to make a move, and both Wendy and Mare stood. Wendy carried the youngling, whom was still awake, but did not want to walk. Mare led the way, ready to attack whatever would come in front of him.

They were unsure which route it was they were on. Mare was clueless on how this type of road system road, but Wendy still had some memory on it. Yet, even though she knew somewhat how the routes worked, she was unsure which one they were on. They were just going to have to continue onwards until something would come up.

The walk was a very long one, and the dark sky got even darker than normal in their location. They were going to have to stop and rest for the night. At least wait until the day came by.

Mare volunteered to stay alert and awake throughout the entire night as Wendy slept with the youngling. For some reason, she felt that she should take care of the creature as if he had been born from her. She smiled as the Sneasel slowly began to drift to sleep. Once he was, she too began to drift away.

And while this was happening, Mare kept his eyes open, and his ears alert. He waited and listened to the night air. The sounds he heard were those of bombs. Were they still at it? Why? This was getting very out of hand. He shook his head. It was at that second that he realized how tired he was. He shook his head again, trying to take the sleepiness away. Instead, it appeared as if that more helped it return to him.

Finally, he gave in. He was tired, and too needed some sleep. He neared the other two, who had found a good sleeping location behind a ditch. Surely no one would find them. To make sure, Mare tore apart a few of the branches on the trees and placed them surrounding the ditch. It appeared more as bushes now. It made it even better with the fact that the tree branches above covered them in case there were humans in those flying machines of theirs.

Satisfied, Mare sprawled himself next to the two. He fell to a slumber, even as the bombs became louder.

* * *

Morning struck, and Mare was the first to awaken. The sun was not completely in the sky, but it was there in a crimson color. He stood, yawning to himself. So what he had done had worked; no one had noticed them. That was good news. He turned to Wendy and the youngling. They still slept peacefully. Then, his gaze remained on the youngling. They were not going to leave him anytime soon. They were going to have to give the youngling a name. But what would that be?

Wendy awoke shortly after Mare had thought these thoughts. She looked at him for a moment, as if confused to who he was. She turned to stroke the baby Sneasel beside her, and she smiled. She stood up against the ditch wall, and yawned to awaken herself. She stretched for more effect.

"So I take it we've been safe throughout the entire night?" Wendy asked.

"I'm not sure if we were ever safe, but I can at least guarantee you that the bombs have stopped going off." As soon as he said that, the thought fully took notice on Mare. The bombs had stopped going off. That meant that one side had already won the battle, and they were not there to see who it was. If it was the humans that had won…then they really needed to get out of there. The humans would be there soon.

"We should move on now," Mare stated. He climbed out of the small ditch, removing the branches he had set up, and then helped both Wendy and the youngling up. The sun seemed to get a bit brighter now. But there was something very wrong with the picture that they now saw before them.

The sun was now shining on completely burnt to the ground trees, and the road was impassable with so many burnt logs and burning logs of trees.

There was silence from the three as they kept their eyes on the route. From one end to the next, it was a burning field. How it had happened, they had no clue.

"Mare, you weren't awake the entire night, were you?"

So now Mare was busted. He did not answer, but the way he looked seemed to have told Wendy enough. She said nothing of it, and shook her head. The youngling kept his eyes on the logs, and shifted from one to the next. Wendy placed the youngling on the ground, and slowly, stepped onto one of the burnt logs. It was a fresh burn. What they were all seeing was a field of fire; some parts of it being burnt as they watched while the rest already burnt.

"To think that this was once a route from one city to the next…what happened here?"

Mare could not answer. Had the humans really gone to the extreme of burning fields? In Mare's mind, it appeared to be a risky and stupid decision. So why had they done so? And where did they get all of the tree logs to fill the route and burn? "Let's get away from here. We should walk away through the forests."

Wendy found no reason to object. She picked up the youngling, and once Mare was ready, he led the way back towards the forests, and towards anywhere but the burning route.

* * *

It was hard to get pass many of the tall grasses within the forests. The trees made it equally hard to pass with darkness to cover their entire pathway, even though the sun began to shine down through the leaves. It created an eerie effect throughout their entire walk through the forests.

And now, Mare was beginning to believe that they were lost somewhere in that forest. That they had no destination (which was true) and that wherever they were going, it was going to lead to a dead end. So far, they had not seen much through the thickness of the grass.

Every once in awhile, they would see a tree wilt and think that there was a human hiding behind that tree. And even if it was not a human, it would be some other species of Pokémon which would want to destroy them. So far, they realized that no matter where it was that they would go, all the Pokémon they would meet would want to kill them. After thinking this through, Mare realized that this may have been a bit too over exaggerated; they had only landed in Kanto the day before, and were attacked by Sandslashes and sandshrews. And found out that they were being led by other species of Pokémon, which was strange, considering that they spoke a completely different language at the same time…

Eventually, their wondering led them to a giant rock formation hidden in the forest, covered by the giant trees beside it. The rock itself was very wide, and blocked their way of travel. The answer would be simple; just go around it. But, very strong weeds and vines made a wall of some sort and blocked any entrée from all around the rock. There was no other way around the rock than to climb it and go to the other side.

"It appears as though what I feared has just happened…" Mare began. He did not need to finish. Wendy pretty much got the picture by what she was seeing. She looked at the rock formation in all different directions, hoping to find a way around it. she shrugged when she could not find anything.

"We should go back now," Wendy said.

Mare being himself did not react. He looked over the rock, seeming to study it. then he viewed the trees beside it. It appeared very easy to climb. It was as if the climb was meant for his species to do it. So, going on this, he jumped onto the rock formation, digging his claws into the rock as hard as he could. He then slowly began to climb upwards, to the top, which was not actually a mountain at height.

Wendy said nothing. Even after Mare made it to the top and signaled for her to climb, she did not say a thing. She sighed, and made sure that the youngling was holding on to her tightly. Then, she began her climb up the rock formation. She only hoped that this would be where they would find a place to stay and survive, without humans.

Her climb was much slower than Mare's. Mare waited at the edge, reaching his claw out for her when she would be able to reach for his. It took a very long while, and during the entire time, Mare was rooting Wendy on to climb and that she would be able to do it. it was not much that she was scared, but more of the fact that she feared that she would drop the youngling. But they both made it to the top safely.

The trees were still blocking the view of anything, but at least they were now on top of a rock. If that meant anything at all.

"Okay Mare; you've got us up here. Now where do you plan to go?" She wondered.

"Wherever we will be safe. So far, the top of this rock seems very safe. Let's stay here for awhile."

"Okay; I can handle that. Now how about food?"

"We could find food easily. Humans come by all—,"

"For the youngling, please." She said.

It seemed to have puzzled Mare well; he did not answer. He just stood there, as if waiting for some type of miracle to happen now. But what type of miracle would happen at the top of a rock? It was actually very pointless to be up there. All they could easily say is that they had a place to stay, and that was it.

"What is the big plan now?" Wendy wondered.

Mare took his time before answering her. He thought about what they were going to do for food, and what he was going to have to end up bringing up to the top of the rock. But he thought of nothing; he knew nothing to bring.

"Mare, why don't you let me decided on these things?" Wendy asked. Mare did not answer. In an attempt to get his attention clearer, Wendy stepped in front of him. "Let me decide on a few things," she said.

Mare was a bit skeptic on letting her choose where they would hide, but slowly, agreed. "Fine," he said. "But what are you planning to do? We are safe up here."

"Mare, you are not making sense with what you are saying now. We are on top of a _rock_. A rock is not going to save us, believe me. Do you want to know what I believe is a much safer place to hide? Near the bottom of this rock, if anything. On top, I fear that we may even just be submitting to being spotted. At least down at the bottom, we have a chance to run."

Mare had nothing to say to her. She knew this; she could see it in his eyes. She shook her eyes and picked up the youngling. In a quiet jump, she jumped off of the large rock. Mare stayed up there, unsure of what he was going to do. But deciding on doing something alone was something that was unlike him.

Eventually, Mare jumped back down, standing near Wendy. She was bent over next to the rock, stroking the baby Sneasel. Mare turned around, as if ashamed to see this. He was not; he just did not want to see that. Something was happening to him; he could tell. Most likely it was the fact that they were in some type of war. But…it felt like something different to him. As if there was a new Mare surfacing. He shook it away, and closed his eyes.

"I am not sure how long we have here," Mare said.

Wendy turned around, looking at him with a confused expression. He waited for her to pick up, but she did not. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Something tells me that the humans will be coming here. When they do, we will have to run, of course. I am not sure how long we have until that time comes."

"Well, until it happens, let's let this slip by. We have to concentrate on living right now, Mare, so let's deal with _this_ for now. We also have to find others of our kind, which is again another challenge for us. But for now, let's pretend that we are safe as long as we stay here; please, I don't think I've ever felt this safe with such a thought in my mind. Let me enjoy it."

Mare did not answer for a long while. Finally, he sighed to himself, and said, "Okay. But let us not stay here for long."

"And what happened with staying here for as long as possible?"

"I never said that; please, let's just hurry up here so that we can continue our journey. How much time do you need here?"

"Well, I am pretty sure that _you_ need a complete sleep round. I think that this is where you get to sleep safely for a complete sleep turn. Trust me Mare, you did not have a good sleep. You need one right now. Just rest for now, and we can think about what to do later. I could see the tiredness in your eyes; you can't hide that."

Mare did not even want to argue here. He just nodded, as if she were right. He then turned away from here, sitting next to the rock wall. He closed his eyes. He was surprised at what he saw when he had; they were some of his old mixed up dreams that seemed to come alive for a split second to pull him in.

"Okay, so maybe I do need some more sleep. But only until we wake fully. We need to get out of here now. I thought this place was safe, but not so anymore."

Wendy did not answer. Mare did not say anything anymore. He let himself lie against the rock wall, and fell to sleep. Wendy stayed with the youngling, playing with him for awhile. "We have some free time," Wendy told the Sneasel. She said nothing more. She looked up into the sky. There were clouds beginning to form, but far from dark clouds. It was a nice turn from what she had seen on Four Island. "Everything is going to be alright," she told the small Pokémon. The Sneasel ended up trying to bite Wendy's claws. She smiled and pulled the Sneasel close to her, and began to silently play with him as Mare slowly gained the sleep that he needed.


	16. Human

**Chapter 16: Human**

When Mare awoke, he found himself alone. He looked left, and then right. Wendy was gone. He stood from his spot, shaking his head. He then looked up. The sky was being covered by the trees, but it appeared to be getting late now. He was not sure exactly what time it was.

He wondered around aimlessly for awhile, not sure of where he should be going. It was only luck that brought him to Wendy and the youngling, who seemed to be playing with each other. Mare stood there for awhile, waiting for one of them to take notice upon him. Of course, it was Wendy who took notice first. She shushed the youngling and rushed up to Mare.

They said nothing; they just stared each other down for the first fifteen seconds. Wendy was the one who broke the stare down by looking back at the youngling, who began to want to crawl up her. She let the youngling, and carried him in her arms. "Are you fully awake?" Wendy asked.

"I am," Mare answered. He turned his eyes towards the youngling, and smiled for only a second. "Are you ready to continue the journey out of here?"

"Depends on whether you have a good plan to escape."

"I don't; but isn't that the fun in this?"

"I suppose we can have some fun now."

"Good," Mare said. He left it at that. The youngling now wanted to get off of Wendy, and pushed himself over her shoulder and to the ground, where he wondered in a circle for awhile. "If this keeps up, we may stay attached to this young one for awhile. Who does he belong to?"

"I'm not the one who lived in a colony Mare; you tell me."

Mare found that he himself could not figure out who the Sneasel was, or who the parents were. It unnerved him a bit to think that the Sneasel's parents could have been already dead. The sad part was that that could have actually been fact. If this was true, then the Sneasel was lucky to not know how to care for the parents yet. Or maybe he did, but he just did not react to it, believing that the parents would return soon.

"We must go now. We'll talk more about this youngling later; for now, we must figure a way out of this forest and to the main route again, if it is not destroyed. Chances for that being undestroyed are very weak, but there are chances." He motioned for Wendy to follow as he turned away, and began his walk. Wendy picked up the youngling and followed behind him. "If that child's parents are not found…" he trailed off, not knowing what to else to add.

"_If_ this Sneasel's parents are not found, then we will have to take the liberty of taking care of him. We cannot just leave him out here; it has already been proven to be extremely dangerous for that."

Mare did not answer her, but he did not put her question behind himself. The thought of taking care of the youngling was not something that Mare would find himself doing, but if it came to that point…he was not quite sure, but he would probably try and help the youngling until he was old enough to travel away from him. The fact was that Mare did not see himself as the family Sneasel. If it would be anywhere near family, it would be him taking care of a family and making sure no harm came.

"So where should we be heading off to?" Wendy asked. Mare didn't answer. And after awhile of not doing so, he held himself, as if he was going to fall over, but did not. Wendy kept a close eye on him. He shook his head, then continued to walk. Wendy stayed behind for awhile. "Mare…when was the last time you ate?"

"Eh…yesterday…," he answered.

Wendy caught up to him. She then blocked his passage by standing right in front of him. "There are a few berry bushes around this area. You need to try some before you faint; that would not be a happy sight, for both me and the youngling. And then there is the fact that it is very bad for your well being."

Mare stared at her for what seemed like minutes, but was only seconds. He turned towards the trees, looking up. There were a few berries growing upon the branches; the light of the day swayed a beautiful light upon them, as if they were from the heavens. Mare quickly jumped onto the tree and climbed. He climbed all the way to the branches, and pulled a few berries out. And then he ate them. They seemed to be strong enough to fuel him, but Mare knew that what he really needed was water. However, figuring that he was already up there, he plucked a few and cupped them, jumping back down.

"Care to have some?" he asked.

Wendy smiled and took one. She did not eat it; she gave it to the youngling, who ate it hungrily. "He and I already ate a few of the berries; I can do without them," she said. Mare shrugged and ate a few more. He waited for the youngling to finish, and then fed him one too. The youngling seemed to be very hungry; it grabbed the last remaining that Mare held, and ate them.

"Well, since we are all fully charged for the rest of today, shall we go on?" Mare did not wait for Wendy to answer that; he began to walk by her, as if he expected her to follow him. And she did follow him. They traveled through the forest for a long while. All that seemed to happen was the trees becoming thicker and the air becoming even more humid than it already was.

At last, it appeared that the trees were clearing up. Their path to a different road was given, and soon, as they were escaping the large empty forest, they found a human road. In the distance to Mare's right, he could see a city with some sort of semi-circle shield surrounding it. To his left, the clouds seemed to be even cloudier, and only one large building was visible with another semi-circle surrounding it.

"Well," Mare began, "It appears we've found a road…" he said nothing more. Wendy passed him, looking back and forth, trying to decide which direction was better. "Wendy, maybe we should stay to the forest."

"Why?"

"Wendy, get over here!" he shouted. He did not even give her a chance; he pulled at her arm, and dragged her back towards the forest. He pushed her behind a tree, where he held her there with the youngling. Wendy was confused as to what Mare was doing, but Mare shushed her.

Slowly, he took a peak at the road. A human vehicle slowly drove by, protected by what seemed to be massive amounts of weapons. Those were the things that Mare hated about humans; they had no power of elements of their own, so they create them. All types, so that they can combat several types of Pokémon.

Once the humans were gone, Mare released his grip on Wendy. He had not realized how tight he had gripped her until she tried to slash at him. She tried, but Mare moved back a little. He was still hit by her slash, but not as powerful as it would have been had he not moved.

"Mare!" she began. "You have to warn me, please! That hurt…" she held her arm, where Mare had dug his claw in unknowingly. "If you want to make sure someone lives, then do not force even more harm to them." She turned to the youngling, trying to see if he was hurt. But he seemed to not have been; it was as if the youngling was completely oblivious to what Mare had just done.

"Wendy, I am sorry; but the humans were coming. I had to do something; I was not going to stand still and wait for them to spot us."

"But you could have told me that there were humans coming than taking it all to yourself and pulling me in an uncomfortable manner!"

Mare was not going to listen to her; he tried to help, and she spat at him for a small bruise. It was an accidental one, but it was well worth it considering the fact that she instead could have been dead had he done nothing. If she was going to be that way, as in, not thank him for saving her, then fine. He was not going to care for that. The point was that she was alive, and he had saved someone. If anything, he was glad that he had saved the youngling. The youngling was part of his colony.

Mare looked the opposite way of Wendy. They both had their backs to each other. The youngling was in the middle, very confused as to what was happening. He looked at Wendy, then back at Mare. He could not see the emotions that Mare and Wendy were giving off, and as such, just stood and watched, unaware.

Eventually, Mare turned around to face her. She was looking back at the road, and had no intentions of looking at him. He sighed, and slowly neared her. The youngling walked by his feet, looking up at Mare, unsure of what he was going to do. Once Mare was right behind her, the youngling jumped onto Wendy. That was enough for her to turn around, to find Mare staring her down.

"What?"

"Please Wendy; for the youngling's sake, let's not fight here. We have to keep ourselves together if we plan on surviving this human land. We know nothing of it, and could easily fall to the humans. In order for us to live through this, we need to stay alert. I am sorry that I gave no warning to you, but believe me; it was to protect you."

Wendy waited for him to say some more. But, it appeared as if that was all he had to say. No other words escaped his mouth, and he appeared to be waiting for her answer. She shrugged, and said, "Fine. Mare, don't be too rough; I am not the colony. I am me, and if you do a little thing known as communication, then we can both work this out perfectly."

"Wendy, come on. I know of communication; it is something I was always supposed to do with the colony. I was just in…I don't know, I guess you can call it fear. Fear of falling to the humans. I can honestly say that I've never felt that way. The way my heart jumped; it has never happened to me like that. Normally, I would analyze it easily, and then have a reasonable unrushed way to solve it. This—what happened here—I am not sure what went through my mind, but it was to protect us from the humans. You have to believe me on that."

"I never said that I did not, but please, just don't do it again." She paused for a moment, thinking of what else she could add to him. but she could not think of anything else, so she ended it with, "so, which way should we be going?"

Mare looked at the road again, undecided. "Well, taking in the fact that the vehicle came from the left side, I would think that they have some sort of settlement over there that is bringing in more humans towards that location over there," he pointed to the city at his right side. "If this is true, then eventually, that settlement to my right will be full of them. At the same time, if they are barely beginning to send more humans that way, then they can have a massive amount back there," he pointed towards his left. "so…I believe the best action to take would—,"

He stopped, not finishing. He heard something behind him. He looked at Wendy, questioning if she had heard it too. She nodded. Mare turned around, looking behind him at the location where they had just come from. Leafs and trees were rustling as whatever was back there made its way towards the road. Wendy pulled the youngling behind her as they waited to see who the form was.

What came out of the trees was exactly what Mare and Wendy feared; a human. The man stood in some sort of path that he had created, and fully stopped once he saw the Sneasels. Mare tried to read his expression. Although he did not know which expressions meant what in humans, if he were to interpret that to Sneasel, then his face would most likely show something along the lines of, "hey…this isn't where I'm supposed to be…"

He held a metal pole in his hand. He pulled it in front of him, as if he were about to use it to block some type of attack. He gave several hand gestures. Mare was unsure of exactly what they meant.

"What is he doing?" Wendy asked.

"You're the one that was trained by them; you should know more than I do," Mare answered.

"Well…if I were another human seeing this…I would assume that he'd be signaling for other humans to capture us…"

That was definitely something that Mare did not want. So in a swift blow, he shot an ice beam directly at the human. It would have been simple; freeze the human, then leave him. But the human did something unexpected; he spun the metal pole he held, and the ice seemed to have been…absorbed into it, as strange as that sounded. But it looked even stranger, and when the human stopped spinning it, the pole was full of snow.

Mare turned to Wendy. He said nothing, but the message could not have been any clearer. She and he ran from the spot, Wendy carrying the youngling. They ran directly onto the human road and crossed, running towards the woods on the other side. None looked behind them, afraid that there would be more humans appearing any second. But none did; even after they were on the other side of the road.

Both Mare and Wendy turned back. The human was still on the other side, but did not follow them. He just stared at them. It was kind of creepy, actually. It was as if he was warning them of something. Or, at least that was what Wendy read on his eyes. She had tried to read him like how she read Teresa. What she was getting was something else than what she expected the human to be thinking; runaway, you are unsafe, I want to help…they were all around those areas. And there was no chance that those could be true…could they?

The human turned from his spot and ran back the other way. Mare looked straight on, waiting to see if he brought company with him. But the human did not return. Mare found himself looking at nothing, waiting for an invisible person to return. No one was going to come back; a full minute passed, and no human exited through the forest.

Mare turned back to Wendy, as if she had the answer to what they had just seen. But she was clueless as he. The human popping up was very spontaneous and random to them both; it made no sense. But, at least they were not attacked. That was a good thing.

After having a few seconds to recoup themselves, they slowly began to walk through the woods, staying near the road. They were heading towards the large city covered by the semi-circle. What they were going to do when they got there was uncertain, but it was somewhere to go. Most likely, they would find some answers if any.


End file.
